H.B. No. 1077
AN ACT
relating to removal of remains interred in a cemetery.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 711.004, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by amending Subsections (a), (d), and (e) and adding
Subsections (j), (k), and (l) to read as follows:
(a) Remains interred in a cemetery may be removed from a
plot in the cemetery with the written consent of the cemetery
organization operating the cemetery and the written consent of the
current plot owner or owners and the following persons, in the
priority listed:
(1) the decedent's surviving spouse;
(2) the decedent's surviving adult children;
(3) the decedent's surviving parents;
(4) the decedent's adult siblings; or
(5) the adult person in the next degree of kinship in
the order named by law to inherit the estate of the decedent.
(d) For the purposes of Subsection (c) and except as
provided by this subsection or Subsection (k), personal notice must
be given not later than the 11th day before the date of application
to the court for permission to remove the remains, or notice by
certified or registered mail must be given not later than the 16th
day before the date of application. In an emergency circumstance
described by Subsection (l) that necessitates immediate removal of
remains from a plot, the court shall hear an application for
permission to remove remains under Subsection (c) not later than
the first business day after the application is made. In an
emergency circumstance described by this subsection, personal
notice may be given on the date the application is made.
(e) Subsections (a)-(d) and (k) do not apply to the removal
of remains:
(1) from one plot to another plot in the same cemetery,
if the cemetery:
(A) is a family, fraternal, or community cemetery
that is not larger than 10 acres;
(B) is owned or operated by an unincorporated
association of plot owners not operated for profit;
(C) is owned or operated by a church, a religious
society or denomination, or an entity solely administering the
temporalities of a church or religious society or denomination; or
(D) is a public cemetery owned by this state, a
county, or a municipality;
(2) by the cemetery organization from a plot for which
the purchase price is past due and unpaid, to another suitable
place; [or]
(3) on the order of a court or person who conducts
inquests; or
(4) from a plot in a cemetery owned and operated by the
Veterans' Land Board.
(j) A cemetery organization may remove remains from a plot
in the cemetery and transfer the remains to another plot in the same
cemetery without the written consent required under Subsection (a)
if the cemetery seeks consent by sending written notice by
certified mail, return receipt requested, 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 Subsection (a). The
notice must indicate that the remains will be removed, the reason
for the removal of the remains, and the proposed location of the
reinterment of the remains. The cemetery may transfer the remains
to another plot in accordance with this subsection if an objection
is not received in response to the notice before the 31st day after
the date the notice is sent. A cemetery may not remove remains
under this subsection for a fraudulent purpose or to allow the sale
of the plot in which the remains are located to another person.
(k) In an emergency circumstance described by Subsection
(l) that necessitates immediate removal of remains before the date
on which the court is required to hear an application for permission
to remove remains under Subsection (d), a cemetery organization may
remove remains from a plot in the cemetery and transfer the remains
to another plot in the same cemetery without the court hearing. A
cemetery association that removes remains under this subsection
shall send written notice of the removal by certified mail, return
receipt requested, to the last known address of the person
designated under Subsection (a) not later than the fifth day after
the date the remains are removed. The notice must indicate that the
remains were removed, the reason for the removal of the remains, and
the location of the reinterment of the remains.
(l) For purposes of Subsections (d) and (k), "emergency
circumstance" means:
(1) a natural disaster; or
(2) an error in the interment of remains.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2003, and
applies only to removal of remains from a cemetery on or after that
date. Removal of remains from a cemetery before the effective date
of this Act is governed by the law as it existed immediately before
the effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect
for that purpose.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1077 was passed by the House on April
24, 2003, by a non-record vote.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1077 was passed by the Senate on May
28, 2003, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor