Public Act 103-0841
 
HB4934 EnrolledLRB103 35553 RLC 65625 b

    AN ACT concerning State government.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Cemetery Protection Act is amended by
changing Sections .01 and 1 and by adding Section 17 as
follows:
 
    (765 ILCS 835/.01)  (from Ch. 21, par. 14.01)
    Sec. .01. For the purposes of this Act, the term:
    "Cemetery authority" means an individual or legal entity
that owns or controls cemetery lands or property.
    "Community mausoleum" means a mausoleum owned and operated
by a cemetery authority that contains multiple entombment
rights sold to the public.
    "Not-for-profit corporation" means a corporation as
defined in the General Not For Profit Corporation Act of 1986.
    "Veteran" means a person who has served as a member of the
armed forces of the United States, the Illinois National
Guard, or a reserve component of the armed forces of the United
States and has been buried in a grave that is more than 100
years old.
    "Veterans' organization" means an organization comprised
of members of which substantially all are individuals who are
veterans or spouses, widows, or widowers of veterans, the
primary purpose of which is to promote the welfare of its
members and to provide assistance to the general public in
such a way as to confer a public benefit.
(Source: P.A. 96-863, eff. 3-1-10; 97-679, eff. 2-6-12.)
 
    (765 ILCS 835/1)  (from Ch. 21, par. 15)
    Sec. 1. (a) Any person who acts without proper legal
authority and who willfully and knowingly destroys or damages
the remains of a deceased human being or who desecrates human
remains is guilty of a Class 3 felony.
    (a-5) Any person who acts without proper legal authority
and who willfully and knowingly removes any portion of the
remains of a deceased human being from a burial ground where
skeletal remains are buried or from a grave, crypt, vault,
mausoleum, or other repository of human remains is guilty of a
Class 4 felony.
    (b) Any person who acts without proper legal authority and
who willfully and knowingly:
        (1) obliterates, vandalizes, or desecrates a burial
    ground where skeletal remains are buried or a grave,
    crypt, vault, mausoleum, or other repository of human
    remains;
        (2) obliterates, vandalizes, or desecrates a park or
    other area clearly designated to preserve and perpetuate
    the memory of a deceased person or group of persons;
        (3) obliterates, vandalizes, or desecrates plants,
    trees, shrubs, or flowers located upon or around a
    repository for human remains or within a human graveyard
    or cemetery; or
        (4) obliterates, vandalizes, or desecrates a fence,
    rail, curb, or other structure of a similar nature
    intended for the protection or for the ornamentation of
    any tomb, monument, gravestone, or other structure of like
    character;
is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor if the amount of the damage
is less than $500, a Class 4 felony if the amount of the damage
is at least $500 and less than $10,000, a Class 3 felony if the
amount of the damage is at least $10,000 and less than
$100,000, or a Class 2 felony if the damage is $100,000 or more
and shall provide restitution to the cemetery authority or
property owner for the amount of any damage caused.
    (b-5) Any person who acts without proper legal authority
and who willfully and knowingly defaces, vandalizes, injures,
or removes a gravestone or other memorial, monument, or marker
commemorating a deceased person or group of persons, whether
located within or outside of a recognized cemetery, memorial
park, or battlefield is guilty of a Class 4 felony for damaging
at least one but no more than 4 gravestones, a Class 3 felony
for damaging at least 5 but no more than 10 gravestones, or a
Class 2 felony for damaging more than 10 gravestones and shall
provide restitution to the cemetery authority or property
owner for the amount of any damage caused.
    (b-7) Any person who acts without proper legal authority
and who willfully and knowingly removes with the intent to
resell a gravestone or other memorial, monument, or marker
commemorating a deceased person or group of persons, whether
located within or outside a recognized cemetery, memorial
park, or battlefield, is guilty of a Class 2 felony.
    (c) The provisions of this Section shall not apply to the
removal or unavoidable breakage or injury by a cemetery
authority of anything placed in or upon any portion of its
cemetery in violation of any of the rules and regulations of
the cemetery authority, nor to the removal of anything placed
in the cemetery by or with the consent of the cemetery
authority that in the judgment of the cemetery authority has
become wrecked, unsightly, or dilapidated, nor to the removal,
replacement, or installation of a gravestone or other
memorial, monument, or marker commemorating a veteran pursuant
to Section 17 of this Act.
    (d) If an unemancipated minor is found guilty of violating
any of the provisions of subsection (b) of this Section and is
unable to provide restitution to the cemetery authority or
property owner, the parents or legal guardians of that minor
shall provide restitution to the cemetery authority or
property owner for the amount of any damage caused, up to the
total amount allowed under the Parental Responsibility Law.
    (d-5) Any person who commits any of the following:
        (1) any unauthorized, non-related third party or
    person who enters any sheds, crematories, or employee
    areas;
        (2) any non-cemetery personnel who solicits cemetery
    mourners or funeral directors on the grounds or in the
    offices or chapels of a cemetery before, during, or after
    a burial;
        (3) any person who harasses or threatens any employee
    of a cemetery on cemetery grounds; or
        (4) any unauthorized person who removes, destroys, or
    disturbs any cemetery devices or property placed for
    safety of visitors and cemetery employees;
is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor for the first offense and of
a Class 4 felony for a second or subsequent offense.
    (e) Any person who shall hunt, shoot or discharge any gun,
pistol or other missile, within the limits of any cemetery, or
shall cause any shot or missile to be discharged into or over
any portion thereof, or shall violate any of the rules made and
established by the board of directors of such cemetery, for
the protection or government thereof, is guilty of a Class C
misdemeanor.
    (f) Any person who knowingly enters or knowingly remains
upon the premises of a public or private cemetery without
authorization during hours that the cemetery is posted as
closed to the public is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.
    (g) All fines when recovered, shall be paid over by the
court or officer receiving the same to the cemetery authority
and be applied, as far as possible in repairing the injury, if
any, caused by such offense. Provided, nothing contained in
this Act shall deprive such cemetery authority or the owner of
any interment, entombment, or inurnment right or monument from
maintaining an action for the recovery of damages caused by
any injury caused by a violation of the provisions of this Act,
or of the rules established by the board of directors of such
cemetery authority. Nothing in this Section shall be construed
to prohibit the discharge of firearms loaded with blank
ammunition as part of any funeral, any memorial observance or
any other patriotic or military ceremony.
(Source: P.A. 95-331, eff. 8-21-07; 96-863, eff. 3-1-10.)
 
    (765 ILCS 835/17 new)
    Sec. 17. Memorialization of veteran remains.
    (a) If a veterans' organization or not-for-profit
corporation has identified human remains of a veteran that are
more than 100 years old and wishes to have a marker placed to
designate the grave as that of a veteran, a cemetery authority
may allow memorialization without permission of the decedent's
heirs under this Section. The marker may be for a previously
unmarked grave or serve as a replacement of or repair to an
existing damaged marker. All costs for memorialization under
this Section, including the marker, its installation, and any
removal of or repair to a previous marker that is damaged,
shall be entirely borne by the veterans' organization. In no
event shall the human remains be disturbed.
    (b) The memorialization and its installation, and any
removal of or repair to a damaged marker, may only take place
with the permission of the involved cemetery authority and in
compliance with the rules and regulations and any collective
bargaining agreement of the involved cemetery.
    (c) Before any memorialization under this Section may take
place, the veterans' organization must first make a good faith
effort to contact the decedent's next of kin, and if there is
no response within 120 days, the process may proceed. The
veterans' organization shall provide the cemetery authority
with a notarized statement detailing its efforts to identify
and contact the next of kin and the lack of response thereto,
which statement may be made a part of the cemetery records.
    (d) If any heir of a decedent later objects to a
memorialization made under this Section, the sole remedy shall
be the removal of the involved marker at the expense of the
involved veterans' organization. If the veterans' organization
no longer exists or is without funds, removal shall be at the
expense of the heir. In no event shall there be monetary
damages, or any other equitable relief or penalties, against
the cemetery authority, cemetery, or veterans' association.

Effective Date: 1/1/2025