78R3791 DLF-D

By:  Shapleigh                                                    S.B. No. 300



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to regulation of perpetual care cemeteries.                          
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 712.008, Health and Safety Code,  is 
amended to read as follows:
	Sec. 712.008.  RULES. (a)  The Finance Commission of Texas 
may adopt rules to enforce and administer this chapter, including 
rules establishing fees to defray the costs of enforcing and 
administering this chapter.
	(b)  The Finance Commission of Texas shall adopt rules 
establishing standards for:
		(1)  timely placement of burial markers or monuments in 
a perpetual care cemetery; and
		(2)  timely and appropriate response to consumer 
complaints made to a corporation that operates a perpetual care 
cemetery.
	SECTION 2.  Section 712.025, Health and Safety Code,  is 
amended to read as follows:
	Sec. 712.025.  USE OF FUND INCOME. Fund income [may be 
applied in the manner the directors of a corporation determine to be 
for the best interest of the corporation's perpetual care cemetery 
and] may be used only to directly provide [for] the perpetual care 
described by resolution, bylaw, or other action or instrument that 
established the fund, including the general care and maintenance of 
the property entitled to perpetual care in the perpetual care 
cemetery.
	SECTION 3.  Sections 712.028(a) and (c), Health and Safety 
Code, are amended to read as follows:
	(a)  A corporation shall deposit in its fund an amount that 
is at least:     
		(1)  the greater of:                                                          
			(A)  $1.75 [$1.50] a square foot of ground area 
conveyed as perpetual care property; or
			(B)  15 [10] percent of the total purchase price 
of that ground area;
		(2)  the greater of:                                                          
			(A)  $90 for each crypt interment right for 
mausoleum interment or lawn crypt interment conveyed as perpetual 
care property, or $50 for each crypt interment right if that crypt 
is accessible only through another crypt; or
			(B)  five percent of the total purchase price of 
that crypt interment right; and
		(3)  the greater of:                                                          
			(A)  $30 for each niche interment right for 
columbarium interment conveyed; or
			(B)  10 percent of the total purchase price of 
that niche interment right. 
	(c)  If a plot owner exchanges a plot for another plot in a 
corporation's perpetual care cemetery, the amount to be deposited 
in the corporation's fund in respect of the plot received by the 
plot owner in the exchange may be reduced by the amount deposited in 
the fund in respect of the plot contributed by the plot owner in the 
exchange. The amount required to be deposited with respect to an 
exchanged plot is the amount required at the time the plot was 
originally conveyed to a plot owner.
	SECTION 4.  The change in law made by this Act to Section 
712.028, Health and Safety Code, applies only to the conveyance of 
ground area as perpetual care property or the exchange of a plot in 
a perpetual care cemetery on or after the effective date of this 
Act.  The conveyance of ground area as perpetual care property or 
the exchange of a plot in a perpetual care cemetery before the 
effective date of this Act is governed by the law as it existed 
immediately before that effective date, and that law is continued 
in effect for this purpose.
	SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.