Baker's Legal Pages are a public service of Freelance Enterprises, Inc.

From the 2005 Regular Session of the Texas Legislature

(This file was created by automatic conversion software.

See caveat and source notes at the 79th Regular Session page)

Select display:

show added and deleted text (text of bill as enacted)
hide deleted text (text in effect after effective date of bill)
hide added text (text in effect before effective date of bill)



	H.B. No. 1012



AN ACT



relating to the offense of abuse of a corpse
and to the offense of criminal mischief in certain
circumstances; providing a criminal penalty.


BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE
STATE OF TEXAS:


SECTION 1.  Section 42.08, Penal Code, is
amended to read as follows:


Sec. 42.08.  ABUSE OF CORPSE.  (a)  A person
commits an offense if the person, without
legal authority not authorized by law,
he intentionally or knowingly:


(1)  disinters, disturbs, damages
removes, dissects, in whole or in
part, carries away, or treats in an a
seriously offensive manner a human corpse;


(2)  conceals a human corpse knowing it
to be illegally disinterred;


(3)  sells or buys a human corpse or in
any way traffics in a human corpse; or


(4)  transmits or conveys, or procures
to be transmitted or conveyed, a human corpse to a
place outside the state; or


(5)  vandalizes, damages, or treats
in an offensive manner the space in which a human corpse
has been interred or otherwise permanently laid to
rest.


(b)  An offense under this section is a
Class A misdemeanor.


(c)  In this section, "human corpse"
includes:


(1)  any portion of a human corpse;


(2)  the cremated remains of a human
corpse; or


(3)  any portion of the cremated remains
of a human corpse.


(d)  If conduct constituting an offense
under this section also constitutes an offense under
another section of this code, the actor may be prosecuted
under either section or both sections.


(e)  It is a defense to prosecution
under this section that the actor:


(1)  as a member or agent of a cemetery
organization, removed or damaged anything that had
been placed in or on any portion of the organization's
cemetery in violation of the rules of the organization;
or


(2)  removed anything:


(A)  placed in the cemetery in violation
of the rules of the cemetery organization; or


(B)  placed in the cemetery by or with
the cemetery organization's consent but that, in the
organization's judgment, had become wrecked, unsightly,
or dilapidated.


(f)  In this section, "cemetery" and
"cemetery organization" have the meanings assigned
by Section 711.001, Health and Safety Code.


SECTION 2.  Article 42.037, Code of Criminal
Procedure, is amended by adding Subsection (p) to read
as follows:


(p)(1)  A court shall order a defendant
convicted of an offense under Section 28.03(f), Penal
Code, involving damage or destruction inflicted on
a place of human burial or under Section 42.08, Penal
Code, to make restitution in the amount described by
Subsection (b)(1)(B) to a cemetery organization operating
a cemetery affected by the commission of the offense.


(2)  If a court orders an unemancipated
minor to make restitution under Subsection (a) and
the minor is financially unable to make the restitution,
the court may order:


(A)  the minor to perform a specific
number of hours of community service to satisfy the
restitution; or


(B)  the parents or other person responsible
for the minor's support to make the restitution in
the amount described by Subsection (b)(1)(B).


(3)  In this subsection, "cemetery"
and "cemetery organization" have the meanings assigned
by Section 711.001, Health and Safety Code.


SECTION 3.  Chapter 54, Family Code, is
amended by adding Section 54.049 to read as follows:


Sec. 54.049.  CONDITIONS OF PROBATION
FOR DESECRATING A CEMETERY OR ABUSING A CORPSE.  (a)
 If a juvenile court places on probation under Section
54.04(d) a child adjudicated to have engaged in conduct
in violation of Section 28.03(f), Penal Code, involving
damage or destruction inflicted on a place of human
burial or under Section 42.08, Penal Code, in addition
to other conditions of probation, the court shall order
the child to make restitution to a cemetery organization
operating a cemetery affected by the conduct in an
amount equal to the cost to the cemetery of repairing
any damage caused by the conduct.


(b)  If a juvenile court orders a child
to make restitution under Subsection (a) and the child
is financially unable to make the restitution, the
court may order:


(1)  the child to perform a specific
number of hours of community service to satisfy the
restitution; or


(2)  a parent or other person responsible
for the child's support to make the restitution in
the amount described by Subsection (a).


(c)  In this section, "cemetery" and
"cemetery organization" have the meanings assigned
by Section 711.001, Health and Safety Code.


SECTION 4.  Section 711.0311, Health and
Safety Code, is repealed.


SECTION 5.  The changes in law made by this
Act apply only to an offense committed or conduct engaged
in on or after the effective date of this Act.  An
offense committed or conduct engaged in before the
effective date of this Act is covered by the law in
effect at the time the offense was committed or the
conduct was engaged in, and the former law is continued
in effect for that purpose.  For purposes of this section,
an offense was committed or conduct was engaged in
before the effective date of this Act if any element
of the offense or conduct was committed or engaged
in before that date.


SECTION 6.  This Act takes effect June 1,
2005, if this Act 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 effect
on June 1, 2005, this Act takes effect September 1,
2005.


______________________________	______________________________


   President of the Senate	Speaker of the
House      


I certify that H.B. No. 1012 was passed
by the House on May 9, 2005, by the following vote:
 Yeas 140, Nays 0, 2 present, not voting; and that
the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B. No.
1012 on May 27, 2005, by the following vote:  Yeas
141, Nays 0, 2 present, not voting.







Chief Clerk of the
House   



I certify that H.B. No. 1012 was passed
by the Senate, with amendments, on May 25, 2005, by
the following vote:  Yeas 31, Nays 0.



______________________________




Secretary of the Senate
  



APPROVED: __________________


                 Date       


          __________________


               Governor