By: Rodriguez of Travis H.B. No. 1472

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to jurisdiction over the removal of remains.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 711.004, Health and Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 711.004. REMOVAL OF REMAINS. (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.

(b) A person listed in Subsection (a) may consent to the removal only if there is no person in a priority listed before that person.

(c) If the consent required by Subsection (a) cannot be obtained, the remains may be removed by permission of the statutory probate court of the county in which the cemetery is located, or, if there is not a statutory probate court in that county, then in a district court of the county in which the cemetery is located. Before the date of application to the court for permission to remove remains under this subsection, notice must be given to:

(1) the cemetery organization operating the cemetery in which the remains are interred or if the cemetery organization cannot be located or does not exist, the Texas Historical Commission;

(2) each person whose consent is required for removal of the remains under Subsection (a); and

(3) any other person that the court requires to be served.

(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;

(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.

(f) Except as is authorized for a justice of the peace acting as coroner or medical examiner under Chapter 49, Code of Criminal Procedure, remains may not be removed from a cemetery except on the written order of the state registrar or the state registrar's designee. The cemetery organization shall keep a duplicate copy of the order as part of its records. The Texas Funeral Service Commission may adopt rules to implement this subsection.

(g) A person who removes remains from a cemetery shall keep a record of the removal that includes:

(1) the date the remains are removed;

(2) the name and age at death of the decedent if those facts can be conveniently obtained;

(3) the place to which the remains are removed; and

(4) the cemetery and plot from which the remains are removed.

(h) If the remains are not reinterred, the person who removes the remains shall:

(1) make and keep a record of the disposition of the remains; and

(2) not later than the 30th day after the date the remains are removed, provide notice by certified mail to the Texas Funeral Service Commission and the Department of State Health Services of the person's intent not to reinter the remains and the reason the remains will not be reinterred.

(i) A person who removes remains from a cemetery shall give the cemetery organization operating the cemetery a copy of the record made as required by Subsections (g) and (h).

(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.