HBA-JRA H.B. 2210 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2210 By: Jones, Jesse Urban Affairs 3/28/1999 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, the state regulates the establishment of cemeteries. H.B. 2210 grants the governing bodies of municipalities the power to regulate, by ordinance, the establishment of cemeteries. 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. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 711.008, Health and Safety Code, as follows: Sec. 711.008. LOCATION OF CEMETERY. (a) Prohibits a person from establishing or expanding a cemetery in a municipality unless the person files an application with the governing body of the municipality in which the cemetery is proposed to be established or expanded and the municipality grants the application. Deletes text prohibiting an individual, corporation, partnership, firm, trust, or association from operating a cemetery in locations with certain populations. (b) Authorizes acquired land that is adjacent but not necessarily contiguous to the cemetery to be used only as an addition to a cemetery. Provides that a cemetery organization must comply with the application requirements under Subsection (a). Redesignated from existing Subsection (c). Makes conforming changes. (c) Requires the governing body of a municipality, by ordinance, to prescribe the information required in an application filed under this section or under regulations adopted by the governing body. (d) Requires the governing body of a municipality to conduct a public hearing on the application after publishing notice in a newspaper of general circulation in the municipality not more than 60 days or less than 30 days before the hearing begins. Requires the person seeking to establish or expand the cemetery to give notice within that period by certified mail to each property owner whose land is located within 200 feet of the boundaries of the cemetery or proposed cemetery and to all surviving owners of plats within 200 feet of the boundaries in an existing cemetery. (e) Requires the person who files the application to pay the costs of providing the required notice. (f) Authorizes the governing body to grant the application if it determines that the establishment or use of the cemetery does not adversely affect public health, safety, and welfare. (g) Provides that the application must be granted by each municipality required to receive an application before the person is authorized to establish or use the cemetery. (h) Provides that this section does not apply to a family, fraternal, or community cemetery of less than five acres or a church, a religious society or denomination, or an organization solely administering the temporalities of a church or religious society or denomination. Deletes existing subsections relating to determining the location of a cemetery based on population. SECTION 2.Emergency clause. Effective date: upon passage.