1-1 By: Dutton (Senate Sponsor - Nixon) H.B. No. 1366 1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House April 25, 1995; 1-3 April 26, 1995, read first time and referred to Committee on Health 1-4 and Human Services; May 10, 1995, reported adversely, with 1-5 favorable Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 7, Nays 1-6 0; May 10, 1995, sent to printer.) 1-7 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 1366 By: Nixon 1-8 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-9 AN ACT 1-10 relating to information in county records and on death certificates 1-11 concerning places in which remains are interred; providing civil 1-12 penalties. 1-13 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-14 SECTION 1. Section 711.034, Health and Safety Code, is 1-15 amended by amending Subsections (a) and (e) and adding Subsection 1-16 (g) to read as follows: 1-17 (a) A cemetery organization that acquires property for 1-18 interment purposes shall: 1-19 (1) in the case of land, survey and subdivide the 1-20 property into gardens or sections, with descriptive names or 1-21 numbers, and make a map or plat of the property showing the plots 1-22 contained within the perimeter boundary and showing a specific 1-23 unique number for each plot; or 1-24 (2) in the case of a mausoleum or a crematory and 1-25 columbarium, make a map or plat of the property delineating 1-26 sections or other divisions with descriptive names and numbers and 1-27 showing a specific unique number for each crypt, lawn crypt, or 1-28 niche. 1-29 (e) The certificate or declaration may contain a provision 1-30 permitting the directors by order to resurvey and change the shape 1-31 and size of the property for which the associated map or plat is 1-32 filed if that change does not disturb any interred remains. If a 1-33 change is made, the cemetery organization shall file an amended map 1-34 or plat and shall indicate any change in a specific unique number 1-35 assigned to a plot, crypt, lawn crypt, or niche. 1-36 (g) A cemetery association is civilly liable to the state in 1-37 an amount not to exceed $1,000 for each map or plat that fails to 1-38 comply with Subsection (a), (b), (c), or (e). 1-39 SECTION 2. Section 193.001, Health and Safety Code, is 1-40 amended to read as follows: 1-41 Sec. 193.001. Form of Certificate. (a) The department 1-42 shall prescribe the form and contents of death certificates and 1-43 fetal death certificates. 1-44 (b) The department shall require death certificates and 1-45 fetal death certificates to include the name of the place and the 1-46 specific number of the plot, crypt, lawn crypt, or niche in which a 1-47 decedent's remains will be interred or, if the remains will not be 1-48 interred, the place and manner of other disposition. 1-49 (c) The bureau of vital statistics and each local registrar 1-50 shall make the information provided under Subsection (b) available 1-51 to the public and may charge a fee in an amount prescribed under 1-52 Section 191.0045 for providing that service. 1-53 SECTION 3. A cemetery association that, on the effective 1-54 date of this Act, has not complied with Section 711.034, Health and 1-55 Safety Code, shall comply with that law not later than September 1-56 30, 1995. 1-57 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, except 1-58 that Section 1 of this Act takes effect October 1, 1995. 1-59 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the 1-60 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 1-61 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 1-62 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 1-63 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended. 1-64 * * * * *