Full Text of HB4934 103rd General Assembly
HB4934ham001 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY | Rep. Stephanie A. Kifowit Filed: 3/22/2024 | | 10300HB4934ham001 | | LRB103 35553 JRC 71176 a |
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| 1 | | AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 4934
| 2 | | AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 4934 by replacing | 3 | | everything after the enacting clause with the following: | 4 | | "Section 5. The Cemetery Protection Act is amended by | 5 | | changing Sections .01 and 1 and by adding Section 17 as | 6 | | follows: | 7 | | (765 ILCS 835/.01) (from Ch. 21, par. 14.01) | 8 | | Sec. .01. For the purposes of this Act, the term: | 9 | | "Cemetery authority" means an individual or legal entity | 10 | | that owns or controls cemetery lands or property. | 11 | | "Community mausoleum" means a mausoleum owned and operated | 12 | | by a cemetery authority that contains multiple entombment | 13 | | rights sold to the public. | 14 | | "Veteran" means a person who has served as a member of the | 15 | | armed forces of the United States, the Illinois National | 16 | | Guard, or a reserve component of the armed forces of the United |
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| 1 | | States and has been buried in a grave that is more than 100 | 2 | | years old. | 3 | | "Veterans' organization" means an organization comprised | 4 | | of members of which substantially all are individuals who are | 5 | | veterans or spouses, widows, or widowers of veterans, the | 6 | | primary purpose of which is to promote the welfare of its | 7 | | members and to provide assistance to the general public in | 8 | | such a way as to confer a public benefit. | 9 | | (Source: P.A. 96-863, eff. 3-1-10; 97-679, eff. 2-6-12 .) | 10 | | (765 ILCS 835/1) (from Ch. 21, par. 15) | 11 | | Sec. 1. (a) Any person who acts without proper legal | 12 | | authority and who willfully and knowingly destroys or damages | 13 | | the remains of a deceased human being or who desecrates human | 14 | | remains is guilty of a Class 3 felony. | 15 | | (a-5) Any person who acts without proper legal authority | 16 | | and who willfully and knowingly removes any portion of the | 17 | | remains of a deceased human being from a burial ground where | 18 | | skeletal remains are buried or from a grave, crypt, vault, | 19 | | mausoleum, or other repository of human remains is guilty of a | 20 | | Class 4 felony. | 21 | | (b) Any person who acts without proper legal authority and | 22 | | who willfully and knowingly: | 23 | | (1) obliterates, vandalizes, or desecrates a burial | 24 | | ground where skeletal remains are buried or a grave, | 25 | | crypt, vault, mausoleum, or other repository of human |
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| 1 | | remains; | 2 | | (2) obliterates, vandalizes, or desecrates a park or | 3 | | other area clearly designated to preserve and perpetuate | 4 | | the memory of a deceased person or group of persons; | 5 | | (3) obliterates, vandalizes, or desecrates plants, | 6 | | trees, shrubs, or flowers located upon or around a | 7 | | repository for human remains or within a human graveyard | 8 | | or cemetery; or | 9 | | (4) obliterates, vandalizes, or desecrates a fence, | 10 | | rail, curb, or other structure of a similar nature | 11 | | intended for the protection or for the ornamentation of | 12 | | any tomb, monument, gravestone, or other structure of like | 13 | | character; | 14 | | is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor if the amount of the damage | 15 | | is less than $500, a Class 4 felony if the amount of the damage | 16 | | is at least $500 and less than $10,000, a Class 3 felony if the | 17 | | amount of the damage is at least $10,000 and less than | 18 | | $100,000, or a Class 2 felony if the damage is $100,000 or more | 19 | | and shall provide restitution to the cemetery authority or | 20 | | property owner for the amount of any damage caused. | 21 | | (b-5) Any person who acts without proper legal authority | 22 | | and who willfully and knowingly defaces, vandalizes, injures, | 23 | | or removes a gravestone or other memorial, monument, or marker | 24 | | commemorating a deceased person or group of persons, whether | 25 | | located within or outside of a recognized cemetery, memorial | 26 | | park, or battlefield is guilty of a Class 4 felony for damaging |
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| 1 | | at least one but no more than 4 gravestones, a Class 3 felony | 2 | | for damaging at least 5 but no more than 10 gravestones, or a | 3 | | Class 2 felony for damaging more than 10 gravestones and shall | 4 | | provide restitution to the cemetery authority or property | 5 | | owner for the amount of any damage caused. | 6 | | (b-7) Any person who acts without proper legal authority | 7 | | and who willfully and knowingly removes with the intent to | 8 | | resell a gravestone or other memorial, monument, or marker | 9 | | commemorating a deceased person or group of persons, whether | 10 | | located within or outside a recognized cemetery, memorial | 11 | | park, or battlefield, is guilty of a Class 2 felony. | 12 | | (c) The provisions of this Section shall not apply to the | 13 | | removal or unavoidable breakage or injury by a cemetery | 14 | | authority of anything placed in or upon any portion of its | 15 | | cemetery in violation of any of the rules and regulations of | 16 | | the cemetery authority, nor to the removal of anything placed | 17 | | in the cemetery by or with the consent of the cemetery | 18 | | authority that in the judgment of the cemetery authority has | 19 | | become wrecked, unsightly, or dilapidated , nor to the removal, | 20 | | replacement, or installation of a gravestone or other | 21 | | memorial, monument, or marker commemorating a veteran pursuant | 22 | | to Section 17 of this Act . | 23 | | (d) If an unemancipated minor is found guilty of violating | 24 | | any of the provisions of subsection (b) of this Section and is | 25 | | unable to provide restitution to the cemetery authority or | 26 | | property owner, the parents or legal guardians of that minor |
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| 1 | | shall provide restitution to the cemetery authority or | 2 | | property owner for the amount of any damage caused, up to the | 3 | | total amount allowed under the Parental Responsibility Law. | 4 | | (d-5) Any person who commits any of the following: | 5 | | (1) any unauthorized, non-related third party or | 6 | | person who enters any sheds, crematories, or employee | 7 | | areas; | 8 | | (2) any non-cemetery personnel who solicits cemetery | 9 | | mourners or funeral directors on the grounds or in the | 10 | | offices or chapels of a cemetery before, during, or after | 11 | | a burial; | 12 | | (3) any person who harasses or threatens any employee | 13 | | of a cemetery on cemetery grounds; or | 14 | | (4) any unauthorized person who removes, destroys, or | 15 | | disturbs any cemetery devices or property placed for | 16 | | safety of visitors and cemetery employees; | 17 | | is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor for the first offense and of | 18 | | a Class 4 felony for a second or subsequent offense. | 19 | | (e) Any person who shall hunt, shoot or discharge any gun, | 20 | | pistol or other missile, within the limits of any cemetery, or | 21 | | shall cause any shot or missile to be discharged into or over | 22 | | any portion thereof, or shall violate any of the rules made and | 23 | | established by the board of directors of such cemetery, for | 24 | | the protection or government thereof, is guilty of a Class C | 25 | | misdemeanor. | 26 | | (f) Any person who knowingly enters or knowingly remains |
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| 1 | | upon the premises of a public or private cemetery without | 2 | | authorization during hours that the cemetery is posted as | 3 | | closed to the public is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor. | 4 | | (g) All fines when recovered, shall be paid over by the | 5 | | court or officer receiving the same to the cemetery authority | 6 | | and be applied, as far as possible in repairing the injury, if | 7 | | any, caused by such offense. Provided, nothing contained in | 8 | | this Act shall deprive such cemetery authority or the owner of | 9 | | any interment, entombment, or inurnment right or monument from | 10 | | maintaining an action for the recovery of damages caused by | 11 | | any injury caused by a violation of the provisions of this Act, | 12 | | or of the rules established by the board of directors of such | 13 | | cemetery authority. Nothing in this Section shall be construed | 14 | | to prohibit the discharge of firearms loaded with blank | 15 | | ammunition as part of any funeral, any memorial observance or | 16 | | any other patriotic or military ceremony. | 17 | | (Source: P.A. 95-331, eff. 8-21-07; 96-863, eff. 3-1-10.) | 18 | | (765 ILCS 835/17 new) | 19 | | Sec. 17. Memorialization of veteran remains. | 20 | | (a) If a veterans' organization has identified human | 21 | | remains of a veteran that are more than 100 years old and | 22 | | wishes to have a marker placed to designate the grave as that | 23 | | of a veteran, a cemetery authority may allow memorialization | 24 | | without permission of the decedent's heirs under this Section. | 25 | | The marker may be for a previously unmarked grave or serve as a |
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| 1 | | replacement of or repair to an existing damaged marker. All | 2 | | costs for memorialization under this Section, including the | 3 | | marker, its installation, and any removal of or repair to a | 4 | | previous marker that is damaged, shall be entirely borne by | 5 | | the veterans' organization. In no event shall the human | 6 | | remains be disturbed. | 7 | | (b) The memorialization and its installation, and any | 8 | | removal of or repair to a damaged marker, may only take place | 9 | | with the permission of the involved cemetery authority and in | 10 | | compliance with the rules and regulations and any collective | 11 | | bargaining agreement of the involved cemetery. | 12 | | (c) Before any memorialization under this Section may take | 13 | | place, the veterans' organization must first make a good faith | 14 | | effort to contact the decedent's next of kin, and if there is | 15 | | no response within 120 days, the process may proceed. The | 16 | | veterans' organization shall provide the cemetery authority | 17 | | with a notarized statement detailing its efforts to identify | 18 | | and contact the next of kin and the lack of response thereto, | 19 | | which statement may be made a part of the cemetery records. | 20 | | (d) If any heir of a decedent later objects to a | 21 | | memorialization made under this Section, the sole remedy shall | 22 | | be the removal of the involved marker at the expense of the | 23 | | involved veterans' organization. If the veterans' organization | 24 | | no longer exists or is without funds, removal shall be at the | 25 | | expense of the heir. In no event shall there be monetary | 26 | | damages, or any other equitable relief or penalties, against |
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| 1 | | the cemetery authority, cemetery, or veterans' association. ". |
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