Bill Text: TX SB661 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Enrolled

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Bill Title: Relating to cemeteries and perpetual care cemetery corporations; creating an offense.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)

Status: (Passed) 2013-05-24 - Effective on 9/1/13 [SB661 Detail]

Download: Texas-2013-SB661-Enrolled.html

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S.B. No. 661

AN ACT
relating to cemeteries and perpetual care cemetery corporations;
creating an offense.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 711.001, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by adding Subdivision (5-a) and amending Subdivisions (6)
and (21) to read as follows:
(5-a) "Cremains receptacle" means a marker, boulder,
bench, pedestal, pillar, or other aboveground vessel that contains
niches for cremated remains.
(6) "Cremated remains" or "cremains" means the bone
fragments remaining after the cremation process, which may include
the residue of any foreign materials that were cremated with the
human remains.
(21) "Niche" means a space in a columbarium or
cremains receptacle used or intended to be used for the placement of
cremated remains in an urn or other container.
SECTION 2. Subsections (a) and (b), Section 711.012, Health
and Safety Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) The Finance Commission of Texas may adopt rules to
enforce and administer Sections 711.003, 711.004, 711.007,
711.008, 711.0105, 711.021-711.024, 711.032-711.036, 711.038,
711.040-711.042, 711.052, 711.061, 711.063, and 711.064 [711.062]
relating to perpetual care cemeteries.
(b) The Texas Funeral Service Commission may adopt rules,
establish procedures, and prescribe forms to enforce and administer
Sections 711.003, 711.008, 711.0105, 711.021-711.034, 711.038,
711.0395, 711.041, 711.042, 711.052, 711.061, 711.063, and 711.064
[711.062] relating to cemeteries that are not perpetual care
cemeteries.
SECTION 3. Section 711.021, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (b-1) to
read as follows:
(b) A corporation conducting a business for cemetery
purposes, including the sale of plots, may be formed only as
provided by this section. The corporation must be a filing entity
or foreign filing entity, as those terms are defined by Section
1.002, Business Organizations Code [either:
[(1) a nonprofit corporation organized in accordance
with Section A or B, Article 3.01, Texas Non-Profit Corporation Act
(Article 1396-3.01, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), or with Section
711.022; or
[(2) a private corporation operated for profit].
(b-1) The formation and governance of a nonprofit
corporation for cemetery purposes is subject to Sections 711.022
and 711.023.
SECTION 4. Section 711.034, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by amending Subsection (e) and adding Subsection (e-1) to
read as follows:
(e) The certificate or declaration may contain a provision
permitting the directors by order to resurvey and change the shape
and size of the property for which the associated map or plat is
filed if that change does not disturb any interred remains. Except
as provided by Subsection (e-1), if [If] a change is made, the
cemetery organization shall:
(1) file an amended map or plat not later than the last
day of the next calendar quarter; and
(2) [shall] indicate any change in a specific unique
number assigned to a plot, crypt, lawn crypt, or columbarium niche.
(e-1) A cemetery organization that holds a certificate of
authority to operate a perpetual care cemetery under Chapter 712 is
not required to file an amended map or plat if:
(1) the only change to the property is:
(A) the placement of a cremains receptacle that
contains not more than four niches on a plot; or
(B) the alteration of an existing cremains
receptacle on a plot; and
(2) the cemetery organization maintains records, as
required by rules adopted by the Finance Commission of Texas, that
specify the location of the cremains receptacle.
SECTION 5. Subsections (a) and (c), Section 711.051, Health
and Safety Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) A cemetery corporation that violates this chapter or
Chapter 712 forfeits the corporation's charter and right to do
business in this state unless the corporation corrects the
violation before the 30th [91st] day after the date of receiving
notice of the violation from the attorney general.
(c) If the violation is not corrected before the 30th [91st]
day after the date of the notice, the attorney general shall bring
suit or quo warranto proceedings for the forfeiture of the
corporation's charter and dissolution of the corporation in a [the]
district court of Travis County or of any county in which the
violation occurred.
SECTION 6. Subsections (a) and (d), Section 711.052, Health
and Safety Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) A person who is an individual, firm, association,
corporation, or municipality, or an officer, agent, or employee of
an individual, firm, association, corporation, or municipality,
commits an offense if the person:
(1) engages in a business for cemetery purposes in
this state other than through a corporation organized for that
purpose, if a corporation is required by law;
(2) fails or refuses to keep records of interment as
required by Sections 711.003 and 711.004;
(3) sells, offers to sell, or advertises for sale a
plot or the exclusive right of sepulture in a plot for purposes of
speculation or investment; [or]
(4) represents through advertising or printed
material that a retail department will be established for the
resale of the plots of plot purchasers, that specific improvements
will be made in the cemetery, or that specific merchandise or
services will be furnished to a plot owner, unless adequate funds or
reserves are created by the cemetery organization for the
represented purpose;
(5) makes more than one interment in a plot in a
cemetery operated by a cemetery organization other than as provided
by Section 711.0395; or
(6) removes remains from a plot in a cemetery operated
by a cemetery organization without complying with Section 711.004.
(d) Except as provided by this subsection, an [An] offense
under this section is a Class A misdemeanor. An offense under
Subsection (a)(5) or (6) is a felony of the second degree.
SECTION 7. Section 712.003, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by amending Subsection (c) and adding Subsection (c-1) to
read as follows:
(c) A corporation chartered on or after September 1, 1993,
and before September 1, 2013, must have:
(1) a minimum capital of $75,000; and
(2) a minimum of $75,000 in capital for each
certificate of authority to operate a perpetual care cemetery
issued to the corporation on or after September 1, 2013.
(c-1) A corporation whose certificate of formation takes
effect on or after September 1, 2013, must have a minimum of $75,000
in capital for each certificate of authority to operate a perpetual
care cemetery issued to the corporation.
SECTION 8. Subsection (b), Section 712.0039, Health and
Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
(b) If the proposed transferee would own more than 50
percent of the stock or other ownership or membership interest of
the corporation and is not a certificate holder, the proposed
transferee shall file any necessary documents with the secretary of
state and an application for a certificate of authority with the
department as required by this chapter. If the proposed transferee
is required to apply for a certificate of authority under this
subsection, the [The] transfer of the perpetual care fund may not
occur until after the date a certificate of authority is issued to
the transferee applicant.
SECTION 9. Subsection (g), Section 712.0441, Health and
Safety Code, is amended to read as follows:
(g) If a violation described in Subsection (a) has not been
corrected before the 31st day after the date the corporation
receives [with 90 days after the receipt of] written notice [by the
corporation] from the commissioner of the violation, the
commissioner may report the violation to the attorney general, who
shall bring suit or quo warranto proceedings for the forfeiture of
the corporation's charter and dissolution of the corporation in a
[the] district court of Travis County or of any county in which the
corporation's [its] perpetual care cemetery is operated.
SECTION 10. Subsections (a) and (c), Section 711.051, and
Subsection (g), Section 712.0441, Health and Safety Code, as
amended by this Act, apply only to a violation that occurs on or
after the effective date of this Act. A violation that occurs
before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law
applicable to the violation immediately before that date, and the
former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 11. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 661 passed the Senate on
March 13, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 661 passed the House on
May 8, 2013, by the following vote: Yeas 147, Nays 0, two present
not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________
Date
______________________________
Governor