1-1 By: Grusendorf (Senate Sponsor - Harris) H.B. No. 1571 1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 5, 1999; 1-3 May 6, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on 1-4 Administration; May 14, 1999, reported adversely, with favorable 1-5 Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 5, Nays 0; 1-6 May 14, 1999, sent to printer.) 1-7 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 1571 By: Harris 1-8 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-9 AN ACT 1-10 relating to the name of a decedent on a grave marker. 1-11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-12 SECTION 1. Section 711.002, Health and Safety Code, is 1-13 amended by amending Subsections (g) and (j) and adding Subsection 1-14 (k) to read as follows: 1-15 (g) A person may provide written directions for the 1-16 disposition, including cremation, of the person's remains in a 1-17 will, a prepaid funeral contract, or a written instrument signed 1-18 and acknowledged by such person. The directions may govern the 1-19 inscription to be placed on a grave marker attached to any plot in 1-20 which the decedent had the right of sepulture at the time of death 1-21 and in which plot the decedent is subsequently interred. The 1-22 directions may be modified or revoked only by a subsequent writing 1-23 signed and acknowledged by such person. The person otherwise 1-24 entitled to control the disposition of a decedent's remains under 1-25 this section shall faithfully carry out the directions of the 1-26 decedent to the extent that the decedent's estate or the person 1-27 controlling the disposition are financially able to do so. 1-28 (j) In the absence of evidence of a contrary intent, it is 1-29 presumed that a married woman directs that her name, as it appears 1-30 on the grave marker for the plot in which she is interred, include 1-31 the same last name she used at the time of her death. 1-32 (k) Any dispute among any of the persons listed in 1-33 Subsection (a) concerning their right to control the disposition, 1-34 including cremation, of a decedent's remains shall be resolved by a 1-35 court of competent jurisdiction. A cemetery organization or funeral 1-36 establishment shall not be liable for refusing to accept the 1-37 decedent's remains, or to inter or otherwise dispose of the 1-38 decedent's remains, until it receives a court order or other 1-39 suitable confirmation that the dispute has been resolved or 1-40 settled. 1-41 SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only 1-42 to a grave marker attached to a plot with respect to which a 1-43 decedent interred in the plot died on or after January 1, 1998. 1-44 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the 1-45 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 1-46 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 1-47 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 1-48 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, 1-49 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its 1-50 passage, and it is so enacted. 1-51 * * * * *