87R18523 EAS-D

By: Leach H.B. No. 1591

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to an exemption from cemetery location restrictions for a funeral establishment licensed in this state.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 711.008(b), Health and Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:

(b) Subsection (a) does not apply to:

(1) a cemetery heretofore established and operating;

(2) the establishment and use of a columbarium by an organized religious society or sect that is exempt from income taxation under Section 501(a), Internal Revenue Code of 1986, by being listed under Section 501(c)(3) of that code, as part of or attached to the principal church building owned by the society or sect;

(3) the establishment and use of a columbarium by an organized religious society or sect that is exempt from income taxation under Section 501(a), Internal Revenue Code of 1986, by being listed under Section 501(c)(3) of that code, on land that:

(A) is owned by the society or sect; and

(B) is part of the campus on which an existing principal church building is located;

(4) the establishment and use of a columbarium on the campus of a private or independent institution of higher education, as defined by Section 61.003, Education Code, that is wholly or substantially controlled, managed, owned, or supported by or otherwise affiliated with an organized religious society or sect that is exempt from income taxation under Section 501(a), Internal Revenue Code of 1986, by being listed under Section 501(c)(3) of that code, if a place of worship is located on the campus;

(5) the establishment and use of a mausoleum that is:

(A) constructed beneath the principal church building owned by an organized religious society or sect that:

(i) is exempt from income taxation under Section 501(a), Internal Revenue Code of 1986, by being listed under Section 501(c)(3) of that code; and

(ii) has recognized religious traditions and practices of interring the remains of ordained clergy in or below the principal church building; and

(B) used only for the interment of the remains of ordained clergy of that organized religious society or sect;

(6) the establishment and operation, if authorized in accordance with Subsection (h), of a perpetual care cemetery by an organized religious society or sect that:

(A) is exempt from income taxation under Section 501(a), Internal Revenue Code of 1986, by being listed under Section 501(c)(3) of that code;

(B) has been in existence for at least five years;

(C) has at least $500,000 in assets; and

(D) establishes and operates the cemetery on land that:

(i) is owned by the society or sect;

(ii) together with any other land owned by the society or sect and adjacent to the land on which the cemetery is located, is not less than 10 acres; and

(iii) is in a municipality with a population of at least one million that is located predominantly in a county that has a total area of less than 1,000 square miles; [or]

(7) the establishment and use of a private family cemetery by an organization that is exempt from income taxation under Section 501(a), Internal Revenue Code of 1986, by being listed under Section 501(c)(3) of that code, on land that is:

(A) owned by the organization; and

(B) located in a county:

(i) with a population of more than 125,000; and

(ii) that is adjacent to a county that has a population of more than 1.5 million and in which more than 75 percent of the population lives in a single municipality; or

(8) a funeral establishment licensed under Chapter 651, Occupations Code, that entombs only cremated remains in a columbarium on the premises of the establishment.

SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.