HBA-MSH, JEK C.S.H.B. 2114 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 2114
By: Allen
Corrections
4/8/2001
Committee Report (Substituted)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Under current law, there are no restrictions on who can be interred in a
cemetery in relation to others interred in the same cemetery.  Recently in
Grand Prairie, a victim of a murder-suicide was interred in a local
cemetery in close proximity to the murderer.  The proximity of these
interments has caused the member's of the victim's family a great deal of
anxiety which will continue as long as they visit the grave site.  C.S.H.B.
2114 prohibits the burial of a murderer in the same cemetery as the victim
of that murder on request of the victim's family. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 2114 amends the Health and Safety Code to prohibit an individual,
corporation, partnership, firm, trust, or association that operates or owns
a cemetery from interring the remains of an individual who may have
murdered another person if the murder victim is interred in that cemetery,
and the family of the victim gives written notice to the cemetery
requesting that the individual convicted of murder not be interred in the
cemetery if the individual was identified by a police or autopsy report as
the murderer or the family of the victim alleges the family has reason to
believe the victim was murdered by the individual.  The bill sets forth
penalties for a violation of this provision.  The bill prohibits the
assessment of damages or civil penalties if the operator of the cemetery
proves by a preponderance of the evidence that the cemetery is the only
cemetery serving the municipality or county in which the victim and
murderer lived and the bodies of the victims and murderer were placed as
far apart in the cemetery as possible or in different parts of the
cemetery.  The bill authorizes the family of an individual who is refused
interment to contest in court an allegation of murder by the victim's
family.  

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. 2114 differs from the original bill by prohibiting the interment
of an individual who may have murdered another person in the same cemetery
as the victim only if the individual was convicted of the victim's murder,
is identified by a police or autopsy report as the murderer or the family
of the victim alleges the family has reason to believe the victim was
murdered by the individual.  The substitute authorizes the family of a
person who is refused interment to contest in court an allegation of murder
by the victim's family. The substitute prohibits penalties for a violation
if the operator of the cemetery proves that the cemetery is the only one in
the area and the bodies were interred as far apart as possible or in
different parts of the cemetery.