|
| Public Act 103-0841
|
| HB4934 Enrolled | LRB103 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.)
|
