H.B. No. 1012
AN ACT
relating to the offense of abuse of a corpse and to the offense of
criminal mischief in certain circumstances; providing a criminal
penalty.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 42.08, Penal Code, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 42.08. ABUSE OF CORPSE. (a) A person commits an
offense if the person, without legal authority [not authorized by
law], [he intentionally or] knowingly:
(1) disinters, disturbs, damages [removes], dissects,
in whole or in part, carries away, or treats in an [a seriously]
offensive manner a human corpse;
(2) conceals a human corpse knowing it to be illegally
disinterred;
(3) sells or buys a human corpse or in any way traffics
in a human corpse; [or]
(4) transmits or conveys, or procures to be
transmitted or conveyed, a human corpse to a place outside the
state; or
(5) vandalizes, damages, or treats in an offensive
manner the space in which a human corpse has been interred or
otherwise permanently laid to rest.
(b) An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor.
(c) In this section, "human corpse" includes:
(1) any portion of a human corpse;
(2) the cremated remains of a human corpse; or
(3) any portion of the cremated remains of a human
corpse.
(d) If conduct constituting an offense under this section
also constitutes an offense under another section of this code, the
actor may be prosecuted under either section or both sections.
(e) It is a defense to prosecution under this section that
the actor:
(1) as a member or agent of a cemetery organization,
removed or damaged anything that had been placed in or on any
portion of the organization's cemetery in violation of the rules of
the organization; or
(2) removed anything:
(A) placed in the cemetery in violation of the
rules of the cemetery organization; or
(B) placed in the cemetery by or with the
cemetery organization's consent but that, in the organization's
judgment, had become wrecked, unsightly, or dilapidated.
(f) In this section, "cemetery" and "cemetery organization"
have the meanings assigned by Section 711.001, Health and Safety
Code.
SECTION 2. Article 42.037, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by adding Subsection (p) to read as follows:
(p)(1) A court shall order a defendant convicted of an
offense under Section 28.03(f), Penal Code, involving damage or
destruction inflicted on a place of human burial or under Section
42.08, Penal Code, to make restitution in the amount described by
Subsection (b)(1)(B) to a cemetery organization operating a
cemetery affected by the commission of the offense.
(2) If a court orders an unemancipated minor to make
restitution under Subsection (a) and the minor is financially
unable to make the restitution, the court may order:
(A) the minor to perform a specific number of
hours of community service to satisfy the restitution; or
(B) the parents or other person responsible for
the minor's support to make the restitution in the amount described
by Subsection (b)(1)(B).
(3) In this subsection, "cemetery" and "cemetery
organization" have the meanings assigned by Section 711.001, Health
and Safety Code.
SECTION 3. Chapter 54, Family Code, is amended by adding
Section 54.049 to read as follows:
Sec. 54.049. CONDITIONS OF PROBATION FOR DESECRATING A
CEMETERY OR ABUSING A CORPSE. (a) If a juvenile court places on
probation under Section 54.04(d) a child adjudicated to have
engaged in conduct in violation of Section 28.03(f), Penal Code,
involving damage or destruction inflicted on a place of human
burial or under Section 42.08, Penal Code, in addition to other
conditions of probation, the court shall order the child to make
restitution to a cemetery organization operating a cemetery
affected by the conduct in an amount equal to the cost to the
cemetery of repairing any damage caused by the conduct.
(b) If a juvenile court orders a child to make restitution
under Subsection (a) and the child is financially unable to make the
restitution, the court may order:
(1) the child to perform a specific number of hours of
community service to satisfy the restitution; or
(2) a parent or other person responsible for the
child's support to make the restitution in the amount described by
Subsection (a).
(c) In this section, "cemetery" and "cemetery organization"
have the meanings assigned by Section 711.001, Health and Safety
Code.
SECTION 4. Section 711.0311, Health and Safety Code, is
repealed.
SECTION 5. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
an offense committed or conduct engaged in on or after the effective
date of this Act. An offense committed or conduct engaged in before
the effective date of this Act is covered by the law in effect at the
time the offense was committed or the conduct was engaged in, and
the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For
purposes of this section, an offense was committed or conduct was
engaged in before the effective date of this Act if any element of
the offense or conduct was committed or engaged in before that date.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect June 1, 2005, if this Act
receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each
house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.
If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for effect on June
1, 2005, this Act takes effect September 1, 2005.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1012 was passed by the House on May 9,
2005, by the following vote: Yeas 140, Nays 0, 2 present, not
voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
No. 1012 on May 27, 2005, by the following vote: Yeas 141, Nays 0,
2 present, not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 1012 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 25, 2005, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays
0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor