Florida Senate - 2017                          SENATOR AMENDMENT
       Bill No. CS for CS for CS for HB 107
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì658920+Î658920                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
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                Floor: 1/RS/3R         .                                
             05/02/2017 06:16 PM       .                                
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       Senator Simmons moved the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete everything after the enacting clause
    4  and insert:
    5         Section 1. Section 872.02, Florida Statutes, is amended to
    6  read:
    7         872.02 Injuring or removing tomb or monument; disturbing
    8  contents of grave or tomb; penalties.—
    9         (1) A person commits a felony of the third degree,
   10  punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084
   11  if he or she:
   12         (a)who Willfully and knowingly destroys, mutilates,
   13  defaces, injures, or removes any tomb, monument, gravestone,
   14  burial mound, earthen or shell monument containing human
   15  skeletal remains or associated burial artifacts, or other
   16  approved structure or approved thing placed or designed for a
   17  memorial of the dead, or any fence, railing, curb, or other
   18  thing intended for the protection or ornamentation of any tomb,
   19  monument, gravestone, burial mound, earthen or shell monument
   20  containing human skeletal remains or associated burial
   21  artifacts, or other structure before mentioned, or for any
   22  enclosure for the burial of the dead;, or
   23         (b) Willfully destroys, mutilates, removes, cuts, breaks,
   24  or injures any tree, shrub, or plant placed or being within any
   25  such enclosure, except for a person performing routine
   26  maintenance and upkeep commits a felony of the third degree,
   27  punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.
   28         (2) A person who willfully and knowingly excavates,
   29  exposes, moves, removes, or otherwise disturbs the contents of a
   30  tomb or grave or tomb commits a felony of the second degree,
   31  punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.
   32         (3) This section does shall not apply to any person acting
   33  under the direction or authority of the Division of Historical
   34  Resources of the Department of State, to cemeteries operating
   35  under chapter 497, any cemeteries removing or relocating the
   36  contents of a grave or tomb as a response to a natural disaster,
   37  or to any person otherwise authorized by law to remove or
   38  disturb a tomb, monument, gravestone, burial mound, or similar
   39  structure, or its contents, as described in subsection (1).
   40         (4) For purposes of this section, the term “tomb” includes
   41  any mausoleum, columbarium, or belowground crypt.
   42         (5)Notwithstanding subsections (1) and (2), an owner,
   43  officer, employee, or agent of a cemetery exempt from regulation
   44  pursuant to s. 497.260 may relocate the contents of a grave or
   45  tomb:
   46         (a)After receiving a written and signed contract between
   47  the owner and a legally authorized person as defined in s.
   48  497.005(43).
   49         (b) If a legally authorized person cannot be located after
   50  a reasonable search or if 75 years or more have elapsed since
   51  the date of entombment, interment, or inurnment, then public
   52  notice must be posted. The public notice must be published once
   53  a week for 4 consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general
   54  circulation in the county where the cemetery is located. The
   55  public notice must contain the name of the cemetery; the name,
   56  address, and telephone number of the cemetery representative
   57  with whom objections may be filed; the reason for relocation of
   58  the contents of the graves or tombs; the names of the human
   59  remains to be relocated; the approximate date of the initial
   60  entombment, interment, or inurnment; the proposed site of
   61  relocation; and the proposed date of relocation. The proposed
   62  date of relocation may not be less than 30 days from last date
   63  of publication. If no objection from a legally authorized person
   64  is received within 30 days from the last date of publication of
   65  the public notice, the cemetery may proceed with relocation.
   66         (6)If a legally authorized person refuses to sign a
   67  contract, as provided in (5)(a), or if a legally authorized
   68  person objects, as provided in (5)(b), a public hearing shall be
   69  held before the county commission of the county where the
   70  cemetery is located, or the city council, if the cemetery is
   71  located in a municipality, and the county commission or the city
   72  council shall have sole authority to grant a request for
   73  relocation of the contents of such graves or tombs.
   74         Section 2. This act shall take effect October 1, 2017.
   75  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   76  And the title is amended as follows:
   77         Delete everything before the enacting clause
   78  and insert:
   79                        A bill to be entitled                      
   80         An act relating to criminal offenses involving tombs
   81         and memorials; amending s. 872.02, F.S.; providing
   82         that a person who willfully and knowingly excavates,
   83         exposes, moves, or removes the contents of a grave or
   84         tomb commits a felony; revising applicability;
   85         authorizing an owner, officer, employee, or agent of
   86         specified cemeteries to relocate the contents of a
   87         grave or tomb, subject to certain conditions;
   88         providing an effective date.