78R11252 DLF-D


By:  Jones of Dallas                                              H.B. No. 1077

Substitute the following for H.B. No. 1077:                                   

By:  McReynolds                                               C.S.H.B. No. 1077



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

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 
Subsection (j) 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, 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 necessitating 
immediate removal of remains from a plot, such as a circumstance in 
which the remains have been interred in the plot by mistake, 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) do not apply to the removal of 
remains:             
		(1)  [from one plot to another plot in the same 
cemetery;  
		[(2)]  by the cemetery organization from a plot for 
which the purchase price is past due and unpaid, to another suitable 
place; [or]
		(2) [(3)]  on the order of a court or person who 
conducts inquests; or
		(3)  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.
	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.