By Dutton H.B. No. 1366
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to information in county records and on death certificates
1-3 concerning places in which remains are interred and to the filing
1-4 of death certificates; providing civil penalties.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Section 711.034, Health and Safety Code, is
1-7 amended by amending Subsections (a) and (e) and adding Subsections
1-8 (g) and (h) to read as follows:
1-9 (a) A cemetery organization that acquires property for
1-10 interment purposes shall:
1-11 (1) in the case of land, survey and subdivide the
1-12 property into gardens or sections, with descriptive names or
1-13 numbers, and make a map or plat of the property showing the plots
1-14 contained within the perimeter boundary and showing a specific
1-15 unique number for each plot; or
1-16 (2) in the case of a mausoleum or a crematory and
1-17 columbarium, make a map or plat of the property delineating
1-18 sections or other divisions with descriptive names and numbers and
1-19 showing a specific unique number for each crypt, lawn crypt, or
1-20 niche.
1-21 (e) The certificate or declaration may contain a provision
1-22 permitting the directors by order to resurvey and change the shape
1-23 and size of the property for which the associated map or plat is
1-24 filed if that change does not disturb any interred remains. If a
2-1 change is made, the cemetery organization shall file an amended map
2-2 or plat and shall indicate any change in a specific unique number
2-3 assigned to a plot, crypt, lawn crypt, or niche.
2-4 (g) A cemetery association is civilly liable to the state in
2-5 an amount not to exceed $1,000 for each map or plat that fails to
2-6 comply with Subsection (a), (b), (c), or (e).
2-7 (h) This section does not apply to:
2-8 (1) a family, fraternal, or community cemetery that is
2-9 not larger than 10 acres;
2-10 (2) an unincorporated association of plot owners not
2-11 operated for profit;
2-12 (3) a church, a religious society or denomination, or
2-13 an entity solely administering the temporalities of a church or
2-14 religious society or denomination; or
2-15 (4) a public cemetery belonging to this state or a
2-16 county or municipality.
2-17 SECTION 2. Section 193.001, Health and Safety Code, is
2-18 amended to read as follows:
2-19 Sec. 193.001. Form of Certificate. (a) The department
2-20 shall prescribe the form and contents of death certificates and
2-21 fetal death certificates.
2-22 (b) The department shall require death certificates and
2-23 fetal death certificates to include the name of the place and the
2-24 specific number of the plot, crypt, lawn crypt, or niche in which a
2-25 decedent's remains will be interred or, if the remains will not be
2-26 interred, the place and manner of other disposition.
2-27 (c) The bureau of vital statistics and each local registrar
3-1 shall make the information provided under Subsection (b) available
3-2 to the public and may charge a fee in an amount prescribed under
3-3 Section 191.0045 for providing that service.
3-4 SECTION 3. Section 193.002, Health and Safety Code, is
3-5 amended to read as follows:
3-6 Sec. 193.002. PERSON REQUIRED TO FILE. The person in charge
3-7 of interment or in charge of removal of a body from a registration
3-8 district for disposition shall:
3-9 (1) obtain and file the death certificate or fetal
3-10 death certificate;
3-11 (2) enter on the certificate the information relating
3-12 to disposition of the body; <and>
3-13 (3) sign the certificate; and
3-14 (4) file the certificate with the county clerk's
3-15 office.
3-16 SECTION 4. A cemetery association that, on the effective
3-17 date of this Act, has not complied with Section 711.034, Health and
3-18 Safety Code, shall comply with that law not later than September
3-19 30, 1995.
3-20 SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, except
3-21 that Section 1 of this Act takes effect October 1, 1995.
3-22 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
3-23 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-24 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-25 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-26 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.