85R8392 DMS-F
	By: Buckingham	S.B. No. 1630

	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.