By Jones of Dallas H.B. No. 2210
76R7612 DLF-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to cemeteries in municipalities.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 711.008, Health and Safety Code, is
1-5 amended to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 711.008. LOCATION OF CEMETERY. (a) A person may not
1-7 establish or expand a cemetery in a municipality unless the person
1-8 files an application with the governing body of the municipality in
1-9 which the cemetery is proposed to be established or expanded and
1-10 the municipality grants the application [Except as provided by
1-11 Subsections (b), (c), and (k), an individual, corporation,
1-12 partnership, firm, trust, or association may not establish or
1-13 operate a cemetery, or use any land for the interment of remains,
1-14 located:]
1-15 [(1) in or within one mile of the boundaries of a
1-16 municipality with a population of 5,000 to 25,000;]
1-17 [(2) in or within two miles of the boundaries of a
1-18 municipality with a population of 25,000 to 50,000;]
1-19 [(3) in or within three miles of the boundaries of a
1-20 municipality with a population of 50,000 to 100,000;]
1-21 [(4) in or within four miles of the boundaries of a
1-22 municipality with a population of 100,000 to 200,000; or]
1-23 [(5) in or within five miles of the boundaries of a
1-24 municipality with a population of at least 200,000.]
2-1 [(b) Subsection (a) does not apply to:]
2-2 [(1) a cemetery heretofore established and operating;
2-3 or]
2-4 [(2) the establishment and use of a columbarium by an
2-5 organized religious society or sect as part of or attached to the
2-6 principal church building owned by the society or sect].
2-7 (b) [(c)] A cemetery organization operating a cemetery that
2-8 heretofore was used and maintained in a municipality [inside the
2-9 limits prescribed by Subsection (a)] may acquire land that is
2-10 adjacent but not necessarily contiguous to the cemetery for
2-11 cemetery purposes if additional land is required. That land may
2-12 only be used as an addition to the cemetery. A cemetery
2-13 organization must comply with the application requirements under
2-14 Subsection (a).
2-15 (c) The governing body of a municipality by ordinance shall
2-16 prescribe the information required in an application filed under
2-17 this section or under regulations adopted by the governing body.
2-18 (d) The governing body of a municipality shall conduct a
2-19 public hearing on the application after publishing notice in a
2-20 newspaper of general circulation in the municipality not more than
2-21 60 days or less than 30 days before the hearing begins. In
2-22 addition, the person seeking to establish or expand the cemetery
2-23 shall give notice within that period by certified mail to each
2-24 property owner whose land is located within 200 feet of the
2-25 boundaries of the cemetery or proposed cemetery and to all
2-26 surviving owners of plats within 200 feet of the boundaries in an
2-27 existing cemetery.
3-1 (e) The person who files the application shall pay the costs
3-2 for providing notice under Subsection (d).
3-3 (f) The governing body may grant the application if it
3-4 determines that the establishment or use of the cemetery does not
3-5 adversely affect public health, safety, and welfare.
3-6 (g) Before the person may establish or use the cemetery, the
3-7 application must be granted by each municipality required to
3-8 receive an application under this section.
3-9 (h) This section does not apply to:
3-10 (1) a family, fraternal, or community cemetery of less
3-11 than five acres; or
3-12 (2) a church, a religious society or denomination, or
3-13 an organization solely administering the temporalities of a church
3-14 or religious society or denomination. [(d) Subsection (a) does
3-15 not apply to a cemetery established and operating before September
3-16 1, 1995, in a county with a population of more than 217,250 and
3-17 less than 217,450 that borders the Gulf of Mexico.]
3-18 [(e) For the purpose of determining where a cemetery may be
3-19 located under Subsection (a), the boundary of an area annexed by a
3-20 municipality is not considered to be a boundary of the municipality
3-21 if no more than 10 percent of the boundary of the annexed area is
3-22 composed of a part of the boundary of the annexing municipality as
3-23 it existed immediately before the annexation.]
3-24 [(k) This subsection applies only to a municipality with a
3-25 population of 100,000 or more that is located in a county with a
3-26 population of less than 120,000. Not later than September 1, 1994,
3-27 a person may file a written application with the governing body of
4-1 the municipality to establish or use a cemetery located inside the
4-2 boundaries of the municipality. The municipality by ordinance
4-3 shall prescribe the information to be included in the application.
4-4 The governing body by ordinance may authorize the establishment or
4-5 use of a cemetery located inside the boundaries of the municipality
4-6 if the municipality determines and states in the ordinance that the
4-7 establishment or use of the cemetery does not adversely affect
4-8 public health, safety, and welfare.]
4-9 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
4-10 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-11 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-12 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-13 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-14 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-15 passage, and it is so enacted.