By Staples H.B. No. 721
76R4002 MCK-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the penalty for desecration of a cemetery.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 711.0311, Health and Safety Code, is
1-5 amended to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 711.0311. DESECRATION OF CEMETERY. (a) A person
1-7 commits an offense if the person acts without proper legal
1-8 authority and knowingly:
1-9 (1) destroys or damages the remains of a decedent;
1-10 (2) removes any portion of the remains of a decedent
1-11 from a plot or other repository of remains;
1-12 (3) desecrates remains; or
1-13 (4) obliterates, vandalizes, or desecrates a plot or
1-14 other repository of remains.
1-15 (b) An offense under Subsection (a) is a felony of the third
1-16 degree. The person found guilty of committing the offense shall
1-17 provide restitution to the cemetery organization for any damage
1-18 caused by the person.
1-19 (c) A person commits an offense if the person acts without
1-20 proper legal authority and knowingly:
1-21 (1) defaces, vandalizes, injures, or removes a
1-22 gravestone, monument, or other structure commemorating a deceased
1-23 person or group of persons, whether located within or outside of a
1-24 cemetery;
2-1 (2) obliterates, vandalizes, or desecrates a park or
2-2 other area clearly designated to preserve and perpetuate the memory
2-3 of a deceased person or group of persons;
2-4 (3) obliterates, vandalizes, or desecrates plants,
2-5 trees, shrubs, or flowers located on or around a cemetery; or
2-6 (4) obliterates, vandalizes, or desecrates a fence,
2-7 rail, curb, or other structure of a similar nature intended for the
2-8 protection or for the ornamentation of any plot, gravestone,
2-9 monument, or other structure of similar character.
2-10 (d) An offense under Subsection (c) is:
2-11 (1) a Class C misdemeanor if the amount of pecuniary
2-12 loss is less than $20;
2-13 (2) a Class B misdemeanor if the amount of pecuniary
2-14 loss is $20 or more but less than $500;
2-15 (3) a Class A misdemeanor if the amount of pecuniary
2-16 loss is $500 or more but less than $1,500;
2-17 (4) a state jail felony if the amount of pecuniary
2-18 loss is $1,500 or more but less than $20,000;
2-19 (5) a felony of the third degree if the amount of the
2-20 pecuniary loss is $20,000 or more but less than $100,000;
2-21 (6) a felony of the second degree if the amount of
2-22 pecuniary loss is $100,000 or more but less than $200,000; or
2-23 (7) a felony of the first degree if the amount of
2-24 pecuniary loss is $200,000 or more.
2-25 (e) The person found guilty of committing an offense under
2-26 Subsection (c) [the offense] shall provide restitution to the
2-27 cemetery organization for the amount of any damage caused by the
3-1 person.
3-2 (f) [(e)] Subsections (a)-(d) do not apply to the removal or
3-3 unavoidable breakage or injury by a cemetery organization of
3-4 anything placed in or on any portion of its cemetery in violation
3-5 of any of the rules of the cemetery organization, to the removal of
3-6 anything placed in the cemetery in violation of any of the rules of
3-7 the cemetery organization, or to the removal of anything placed in
3-8 the cemetery by or with the consent of the cemetery organization
3-9 that in its judgment has become wrecked, unsightly, or dilapidated.
3-10 (g) [(f)] If an unemancipated minor is found guilty of
3-11 violating Subsection (a) or (c) and is unable to provide
3-12 restitution to the cemetery organization, the minor may be required
3-13 to spend that amount of time in service to the community as is
3-14 determined by the court or the parents or legal guardians of the
3-15 minor may be required to provide restitution to the cemetery
3-16 organization for the amount of any damage caused by the offense, up
3-17 to the total amount allowed under law.
3-18 (h) [(g)] A person commits an offense if the person
3-19 knowingly enters or knowingly remains on the premises of a cemetery
3-20 without authorization during hours that the cemetery is posted as
3-21 closed to the public. An offense under this subsection is a Class
3-22 C misdemeanor.
3-23 (i) [(h)] This section does not prevent a cemetery
3-24 organization or the owner of a plot, gravestone, monument, or other
3-25 structure of similar character from maintaining a civil action for
3-26 the recovery of damages caused by any injury resulting from a
3-27 violation of this section.
4-1 SECTION 2. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
4-2 (b) The change in law made by this Act applies only to an
4-3 offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act. For
4-4 purposes of this section, an offense is committed before the
4-5 effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs
4-6 before that date.
4-7 (c) An offense committed before the effective date of this
4-8 Act is governed by the law in effect when the offense was
4-9 committed, and the former law is continued in effect for that
4-10 purpose.
4-11 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
4-12 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-13 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-14 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-15 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.