Bill Text: IL HB4934 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Engrossed

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Bill Title: Amends the Cemetery Protection Act. Defines "veteran" and "veterans' organization". Provides that if a veterans' organization 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 such memorialization without permission of the decedent's heirs. Provides that all costs for memorialization 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. Prohibits human remains from being disturbed in this process. Requires permission from the cemetery authority and compliance with the rules and regulations and any collective bargaining agreement of the involved cemetery. Requires the veterans' organization to 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. Provides that if any heir of a decedent later objects to memorialization, the sole remedy is the removal of the involved marker at the expense of the involved veterans' organization unless the veterans' organization no longer exists or is without funds, in which case removal shall be at the expense of the heir. Prohibits any monetary damages or any other equitable relief or penalties against the cemetery authority, cemetery, or veterans' association.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 25-9)

Status: (Engrossed) 2024-04-24 - Assigned to Veterans Affairs [HB4934 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-HB4934-Engrossed.html

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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.
"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

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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

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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

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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;

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(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

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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 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

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