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.