Bill Text: TX SB1855 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to a location restriction exemption and requirements for funeral establishments to operate a columbarium.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-03-20 - Referred to Business & Commerce [SB1855 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-SB1855-Introduced.html

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88R12231 LRM-F
By: Paxton S.B. No. 1855

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a location restriction exemption and requirements for
funeral establishments to operate a columbarium.
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;
(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) the establishment and use of a private family
cemetery located at the site of a presidential library and museum;
or
(9) the establishment and use of a columbarium on the
premises of a funeral establishment licensed under Chapter 651,
Occupations Code.
SECTION 2. Subchapter A, Chapter 711, Health and Safety
Code, is amended by adding Section 711.013 to read as follows:
Sec. 711.013. REQUIREMENTS FOR FUNERAL ESTABLISHMENT TO
OPERATE COLUMBARIUM. (a) A funeral establishment licensed under
Chapter 651, Occupations Code, may establish and operate a
columbarium to entomb cremated remains on the premises of the
establishment only if the establishment establishes a perpetual
care trust fund in accordance with Chapter 712 for the continued
care and maintenance of the columbarium.
(b) A funeral establishment that establishes a perpetual
care trust fund under this section must comply with the applicable
requirements for a perpetual care trust fund established under
Chapter 712 and applicable rules adopted under that chapter.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it 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 immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2023.