By Jones of Dallas                                    H.B. No. 1085
         77R2876 DLF-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to removal of remains interred in a cemetery.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Sections 711.004(a) and (e), Health and Safety
 1-5     Code, are amended to read as follows:
 1-6           (a)  Remains interred in a cemetery may be removed from a
 1-7     plot in the cemetery with the written consent of the cemetery
 1-8     organization operating the cemetery and the written consent of the
 1-9     current plot owner or owners and the following persons, in the
1-10     priority listed:
1-11                 (1)  the decedent's surviving spouse;
1-12                 (2)  the decedent's surviving adult children;
1-13                 (3)  the decedent's surviving parents;
1-14                 (4)  the decedent's adult siblings; or
1-15                 (5)  the adult person in the next degree of kinship in
1-16     the order named by law to inherit the estate of the decedent.
1-17           (e)  Subsections (a)-(d) do not apply to the removal of
1-18     remains:
1-19                 (1)  [from one plot to another plot in the same
1-20     cemetery;]
1-21                 [(2)]  by the cemetery organization from a plot for
1-22     which the purchase price is past due and unpaid, to another
1-23     suitable place; or
1-24                 (2) [(3)]  on the order of a court or person who
 2-1     conducts inquests.
 2-2           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2001, and
 2-3     applies only to removal of remains from a cemetery on or after that
 2-4     date. Removal of remains from a cemetery before the effective date
 2-5     of this Act is governed by the law as it existed immediately before
 2-6     the effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect
 2-7     for that purpose.