87R18523 EAS-D
 
  By: Leach H.B. No. 1591
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to an exemption from cemetery location restrictions for a
  funeral establishment licensed in this state.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 711.008(b), Health and Safety Code, is
  amended to read as follows:
         (b)  Subsection (a) does not apply to:
               (1)  a cemetery heretofore established and operating;
               (2)  the establishment and use of a columbarium by an
  organized religious society or sect that is exempt from income
  taxation under Section 501(a), Internal Revenue Code of 1986, by
  being listed under Section 501(c)(3) of that code, as part of or
  attached to the principal church building owned by the society or
  sect;
               (3)  the establishment and use of a columbarium by an
  organized religious society or sect that is exempt from income
  taxation under Section 501(a), Internal Revenue Code of 1986, by
  being listed under Section 501(c)(3) of that code, on land that:
                     (A)  is owned by the society or sect; and
                     (B)  is part of the campus on which an existing
  principal church building is located;
               (4)  the establishment and use of a columbarium on the
  campus of a private or independent institution of higher education,
  as defined by Section 61.003, Education Code, that is wholly or
  substantially controlled, managed, owned, or supported by or
  otherwise affiliated with an organized religious society or sect
  that is exempt from income taxation under Section 501(a), Internal
  Revenue Code of 1986, by being listed under Section 501(c)(3) of
  that code, if a place of worship is located on the campus;
               (5)  the establishment and use of a mausoleum that is:
                     (A)  constructed beneath the principal church
  building owned by an organized religious society or sect that:
                           (i)  is exempt from income taxation under
  Section 501(a), Internal Revenue Code of 1986, by being listed
  under Section 501(c)(3) of that code; and
                           (ii)  has recognized religious traditions
  and practices of interring the remains of ordained clergy in or
  below the principal church building; and
                     (B)  used only for the interment of the remains of
  ordained clergy of that organized religious society or sect;
               (6)  the establishment and operation, if authorized in
  accordance with Subsection (h), of a perpetual care cemetery by an
  organized religious society or sect that:
                     (A)  is exempt from income taxation under Section
  501(a), Internal Revenue Code of 1986, by being listed under
  Section 501(c)(3) of that code;
                     (B)  has been in existence for at least five
  years;
                     (C)  has at least $500,000 in assets; and
                     (D)  establishes and operates the cemetery on land
  that:
                           (i)  is owned by the society or sect;
                           (ii)  together with any other land owned by
  the society or sect and adjacent to the land on which the cemetery
  is located, is not less than 10 acres; and
                           (iii)  is in a municipality with a
  population of at least one million that is located predominantly in
  a county that has a total area of less than 1,000 square miles; [or]
               (7)  the establishment and use of a private family
  cemetery by an organization that is exempt from income taxation
  under Section 501(a), Internal Revenue Code of 1986, by being
  listed under Section 501(c)(3) of that code, on land that is:
                     (A)  owned by the organization; and
                     (B)  located in a county:
                           (i)  with a population of more than 125,000;
  and
                           (ii)  that is adjacent to a county that has a
  population of more than 1.5 million and in which more than 75
  percent of the population lives in a single municipality; or
               (8)  a funeral establishment licensed under Chapter
  651, Occupations Code, that entombs only cremated remains in a
  columbarium on the premises of the establishment.
         SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.