85R8392 DMS-F
By: Howard H.B. No. 3265
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to cemeteries.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 711.001, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by amending Subdivisions (1) and (1-a) and adding
Subdivisions (1-b), (29), (30), (31), and (32) to read as follows:
(1) "Abandoned cemetery" means a cemetery, regardless
of whether it appears on a map or in deed records, that is not owned
or operated by a cemetery organization, does not have another
person legally responsible for its care, and is not maintained by
any person.
(1-a) "Burial park" means a tract of land that is used
or intended to be used for interment in graves.
(1-b) [(1-a)] "Campus" means the area:
(A) within the boundaries of one or more adjacent
tracts, parcels, or lots under common ownership;
(B) on which the principal church building and
related structures and facilities of an organized religious society
or sect are located; and
(C) that may be subject to one or more easements
for street, utility, or pipeline purposes.
(29) "Unidentified grave" means a grave that is not
marked in a manner that provides the identity of the interment.
(30) "Unknown cemetery" means an abandoned cemetery
evidenced by the presence of marked or unmarked graves that does not
appear on a map or in deed records.
(31) "Unmarked grave" means the immediate area where
one or more human interments are found that:
(A) is not in a recognized and maintained
cemetery;
(B) is not owned or operated by a cemetery
organization;
(C) is not marked by a tomb, monument,
gravestone, or other structure or thing placed or designated as a
memorial of the dead; and
(D) is located on land designated as
agricultural, timber, recreational, park, or scenic land under
Chapter 23, Tax Code.
(32) "Unverified cemetery" means a location having
some evidence of interment but in which the presence of one or more
unmarked graves has not been verified by a person described by
Section 711.0105(a) or by the Texas Historical Commission.
SECTION 2. Section 711.004, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by adding Subsection (f-1) to read as follows:
(f-1) For unmarked graves contained within an abandoned,
unknown, or unverified cemetery, a justice of the peace acting as
coroner or medical examiner under Chapter 49, Code of Criminal
Procedure, or a person described by Section 711.0105(a) may
investigate or remove remains without written order of the state
registrar or the state registrar's designee.
SECTION 3. The heading to Section 711.010, Health and
Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 711.010. ABANDONED, UNKNOWN, OR UNVERIFIED
[ABANDONED] CEMETERY.
SECTION 4. Section 711.010, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by amending Subsections (a) and (b) and adding Subsection
(d) to read as follows:
(a) The owner of property on which an unknown cemetery is
discovered or on which an abandoned cemetery is located may not
construct improvements on the property in a manner that would
[further] disturb the cemetery until the human remains interred in
the cemetery are removed under a written order issued by the state
registrar or the state registrar's designee under Section
711.004(f) and under an order of a district court as provided by
this section, except as provided by Section 711.004(f-1).
(b) On petition of the owner of the property, a district
court of the county in which an unknown cemetery is discovered or an
abandoned cemetery is located may order the removal of any
dedication for cemetery purposes that affects the property if the
court finds that the removal of the dedication is in the public
interest. If a court orders the removal of a dedication of a
cemetery and all human remains in that cemetery [on the property]
have not previously been removed, the court shall order the removal
of the human remains from the cemetery to a perpetual care cemetery
or a municipal or county cemetery.
(d) The Texas Historical Commission, with consent of the
landowner, may investigate a suspected but unverified cemetery or
may delegate the investigation to a qualified person described by
Section 711.0105(a).
SECTION 5. The heading to Section 711.011, Health and
Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 711.011. FILING RECORD OF UNKNOWN OR ABANDONED
CEMETERY.
SECTION 6. Section 711.011(a), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) A person who discovers an unknown or abandoned cemetery
shall file notice of the discovery of the cemetery with the county
clerk of the county in which the cemetery is located and
concurrently mail notice to the landowner on record in the county
appraisal district not later than the 10th day after the date of the
discovery. The notice must contain a legal description of the land
on which the unknown or abandoned cemetery was found and describe
the approximate location of the cemetery and the evidence of the
cemetery that was discovered.
SECTION 7. Subchapter A, Chapter 711, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 711.0111 to read as follows:
Sec. 711.0111. NOTICE OF UNVERIFIED CEMETERY. (a) A person
who discovers an unverified cemetery shall file notice and evidence
of the discovery with the Texas Historical Commission on a form
provided by the Texas Historical Commission, and shall concurrently
provide a copy of the notice to the landowner on record in the
county appraisal district on whose land the unverified cemetery is
located.
(b) The landowner described by Subsection (a) may send a
response or comments to the Texas Historical Commission concerning
the notice not later than the 30th day after the date the notice is
filed.
(c) The Texas Historical Commission shall evaluate the
notice of the unverified cemetery, the evidence submitted with the
notice, and the response of the landowner, if any, and shall
determine whether there is sufficient evidence of the existence of
a cemetery.
(d) If the Texas Historical Commission determines that
there is sufficient evidence that a cemetery exists, the Texas
Historical Commission shall file notice of the existence of the
cemetery under the provisions of Section 711.011.
SECTION 8. Section 711.041, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
(d) This section does not apply to an unverified cemetery.
SECTION 9. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.