Public Act 0608 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SB1210 Enrolled LRB094 04866 LCB 34895 b

Public Act 094-0608

AN ACT concerning civil law.

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 Section 1 as follows:

(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.

(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 association 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 association, or the owner of any lot 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 association. 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. 92-419, eff. 1-1-02.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.