C.S.H.B. 1077 78(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


C.S.H.B. 1077
By: Jones, Jesse
Public Health
Committee Report (Substituted)
     


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 
Current law permits a cemetery organization to move a remains interred in
a cemetery from one plot to another plot in the same cemetery without
obtaining written consent from the decedent's next of kin.  C.S.H.B. 1077
would require the cemetery to obtain written consent of the decedent's
next of kin before moving the remains from one plot to another plot within
the same cemetery.  

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any
additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or
institution. 

ANALYSIS
Amends Section 711.004, Health and Safety Code to require written consent
from certain persons, before the remains interred in a cemetery can be
moved from a plot in the cemetery.  A plot in a cemetery owned and
operated by  the Veterans' Land Board is exempt. 

Specifies that in emergency circumstance necessitating immediate removal
of remains from a plot, a cemetery that has sought permission from a
county court must provide personal notice on the date the application in
made.  The court is required to consider the application not later than
the first business day after the application has been made.  

Allows a cemetery to satisfy the consent requirements by sending a notice,
certified mail, seeking written consent to the last known address of the
current owner of the plot from which the remains are to be removed or to
the person designated under Section 711.004 (a).  The notice must include
the reason for the removal and the proposed location of the reinterment of
the remains.  If no objection is received before the 31st day after the
notice was sent, the remains can be relocated.  The cemetery may not
remove remains for fraudulent purposes or sale the plot in which the
remains are located to another person.  

The Act only applies to removal of remains from a cemetery on or after the
effective date of the act. 

EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2003.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE
C.S.H.B. 1077 differs from the original in that it contains a provision to
address circumstances when an immediate removal of a body from a plot
arises. C.S.H.B. 1077 adds an exemption for cemeteries owned and operated
by the Veterans' Land Board.  C.S.H.B. 1077  allows a cemetery to satisfy
the consent requirements by sending a written notice.  C.S.H.B. 1077
prevents a cemetery from using the certified mail written notice section
for a fraudulent purpose or to allow the sale of the plot in which the
remains are located to another person.