Florida Senate - 2017 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
Bill No. SB 844
Ì129514&Î129514
LEGISLATIVE ACTION
Senate . House
Comm: RS .
03/13/2017 .
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The Committee on Criminal Justice (Simmons) recommended 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 who willfully and knowingly destroys,
10 mutilates, defaces, injures, or removes any tomb, monument,
11 gravestone, burial mound, earthen or shell monument containing
12 human skeletal remains or associated burial artifacts, or other
13 structure or thing placed or designed for a memorial of the
14 dead, or any fence, railing, curb, or other thing intended for
15 the protection or ornamentation of any tomb, monument,
16 gravestone, burial mound, earthen or shell monument containing
17 human skeletal remains or associated burial artifacts, or other
18 structure before mentioned, or for any enclosure for the burial
19 of the dead, or willfully destroys, mutilates, removes, cuts,
20 breaks, or injures any tree, shrub, or plant placed or being
21 within any such enclosure, commits a felony of the third degree,
22 punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.
23 (2) A person who willfully and knowingly excavates,
24 exposes, moves, removes, or otherwise disturbs the contents of a
25 tomb or grave commits a felony of the second degree, punishable
26 as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.
27 (3) This section does shall not apply to any person acting
28 under the direction or authority of the Division of Historical
29 Resources of the Department of State, to cemeteries operating
30 under chapter 497, any cemeteries removing or relocating the
31 contents of a grave or tomb as a response to a natural disaster,
32 or to any person otherwise authorized by law to remove or
33 disturb a tomb, monument, gravestone, burial mound, or similar
34 structure, or its contents, as described in subsection (1).
35 (4) For purposes of this section, the term “tomb” includes
36 any mausoleum, columbarium, or belowground crypt.
37 (5) Notwithstanding subsections (1) and (2), an owner,
38 officer, employee, or agent of a cemetery exempt from regulation
39 pursuant to s. 497.260 may relocate the contents of a grave or
40 tomb:
41 (a) After receiving a written and signed contract between
42 the operator and a legally authorized person as defined in s.
43 497.005(43).
44 (b) If a legally authorized person cannot be located after
45 a reasonable search or after 75 years or more have elapsed since
46 the date of entombment, interment, or inurnment, then public
47 notice must be posted. The public notice must be published once
48 a week for 4 consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general
49 circulation in the county where the cemetery is located. The
50 public notice must contain the name of the cemetery; the name,
51 address, and telephone number of the cemetery representative
52 with whom objections may be filed; the reason for relocation of
53 the contents of the graves or tombs; the names of the human
54 remains to be relocated; the approximate date of the initial
55 entombment, interment, or inurnment; the proposed site of
56 relocation; and the proposed date of relocation. The proposed
57 date of relocation may not be less than 30 days from last date
58 of publication.
59 1. If no objection from a legally authorized person is
60 received within 30 days from the last date of publication of the
61 public notice, the cemetery may proceed with relocation.
62 2. If objections are received from a legally authorized
63 person, a public hearing shall be held before the county
64 commission of the county where the cemetery is located, or the
65 city council, if the cemetery is located in a municipality, and
66 the county commission or the city council shall have sole
67 authority to grant a request for relocation of the contents of
68 such graves or tombs.
69 Section 2. This act shall take effect October 1, 2017.
70
71 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================
72 And the title is amended as follows:
73 Delete everything before the enacting clause
74 and insert:
75 A bill to be entitled
76 An act relating to criminal offenses involving tombs
77 and memorials; amending s. 872.02, F.S.; providing
78 that a person who willfully and knowingly excavates,
79 exposes, moves, or removes the contents of a tomb or
80 grave commits a crime; revising applicability;
81 authorizing an owner, officer, employee, or agent of
82 specified cemeteries to relocate the contents of a
83 grave or tomb, subject to certain conditions;
84 providing an effective date.