78R5681 DLF-D

By:  Jones of Dallas                                              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.  Sections 711.004(a) and (e), Health and Safety 
Code, are amended 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.
	(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.
	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.