HB1571eng 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HB1571 Engrossed LRB103 27276 LNS 53647 b

AN ACT concerning civil law.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 1. This Act may be referred to as the Michael Bauer Memorial Act.

Section 5. The Cemetery Oversight Act is amended by changing Sections 10-23 and 20-5 as follows:

(225 ILCS 411/10-23)

(Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2027)

Sec. 10-23. Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics. Licensed cemetery authorities and their licensed cemetery managers and customer service employees, and cemetery authorities maintaining a partial exemption and their cemetery managers and customer service employees shall:

(a) refrain from committing any action that may violate Section 25-10 of this Act;

(b) be aware of applicable federal and State laws and regulations, adhere to those laws and regulations, and be able to explain them to families in an understandable manner;

(c) treat all human remains with proper care and dignity, honoring known religious, ethnic, and personal beliefs;

(d) protect all confidential information;

(e) carry out all aspects of service in a competent and respectful manner;

(f) fulfill all written and verbal agreements and contracts;

(g) provide honest, factual, and complete information regarding all aspects of the services offered and provided;

(h) not engage in advertising that is false, misleading, or otherwise prohibited by law;

(i) not discriminate against any person because of race, creed, marital status, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, or color, except a religious cemetery may restrict its services to those of the same religious faith or creed. A cemetery authority operating any cemetery may designate parts of cemeteries or burial grounds for the specific use of persons whose religious code requires isolation;

(j) to have clear and specific cemetery rules and regulations, subject to other applicable law, including this Act, and to apply them equally to all consumers and individuals families served;

(k) report all violations of this Act and this Section to the Department.

(Source: P.A. 96-863, eff. 3-1-10; 97-679, eff. 2-6-12.)

(225 ILCS 411/20-5)

(Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2027)

Sec. 20-5. Maintenance and records.

(a) A cemetery authority shall provide reasonable maintenance of the cemetery property and of all lots, graves, crypts, and columbariums in the cemetery based on the type and size of the cemetery, topographic limitations, and contractual commitments with consumers. Subject to the provisions of this subsection (a), reasonable maintenance includes:

(1) the laying of seed, sod, or other suitable ground cover as soon as practical following an interment given the weather conditions, climate, and season and the interment's proximity to ongoing burial activity;

(2) the cutting of lawn throughout the cemetery at reasonable intervals to prevent an overgrowth of grass and weeds given the weather conditions, climate, and season;

(3) the trimming of shrubs to prevent excessive overgrowth;

(4) the trimming of trees to remove dead limbs;

(5) maintaining, repairing, or removing, if necessary, drains, water lines, roads, buildings, fences, and other structures; and

(6) keeping the cemetery premises free of trash and debris.

In determining whether a cemetery authority provides reasonable maintenance of the cemetery property, the Department shall consider:

(1) the cemetery authority's contractual obligations for care and maintenance;

(2) the size of the cemetery;

(3) the extent and use of the cemetery authority's financial resources;

(4) the standard of maintenance of one or more similarly situated cemeteries; in determining whether a cemetery is similarly situated, the Department shall consider the cemetery's size, location, topography, and financial resources, and whether the cemetery is a fraternal cemetery, a religious cemetery, a public cemetery, a cemetery owned and operated by a cemetery association, or a licensed cemetery.

Reasonable maintenance by the cemetery authority shall not preclude the exercise of lawful rights by the owner of an interment, inurnment, or entombment right, or by the decedent's immediate family or other heirs, in accordance with reasonable rules and regulations of the cemetery or other agreement of the cemetery authority.

In the case of a cemetery dedicated as a nature preserve under the Illinois Natural Areas Preservation Act, reasonable maintenance by the cemetery authority shall be in accordance with the rules and master plan governing the dedicated nature preserve.

A cemetery authority accused of violating the reasonable maintenance standard set forth in this Section shall have a reasonable opportunity to cure the violation. The cemetery authority shall have 10 business days after receipt of notice to cure the violation. If a cemetery authority cannot cure the violation within 10 business days, then the cemetery authority may request a time extension in order to cure the violation. The request for an extension shall be made in writing to the Department and must be postmarked within 10 business days after receipt of the notice of the alleged violation. The request shall outline all reasons for the extension and an estimated date by which the cure will be accomplished. Acceptable reasons include, without limitation, delays caused by weather conditions, season or climate, equipment failures, or acquisitions of materials or supplies being addressed by the authority in a timely manner, and unexpected temporary absences of personnel. The Department may approve or deny the extension. If the extension is denied, then the cemetery authority must cure the violation within 10 business days after the date of receipt of the Department's extension denial. If the extension is granted, then the cemetery authority must cure the violation within the extended period of time. A cemetery authority that does not cure the violation within the appropriate period of time shall be subject to discipline in accordance with Article 25 of this Act.

(b) A cemetery authority, before commencing cemetery operations or within 6 months after the effective date of this Act, shall cause an overall map of its cemetery property, delineating all lots or plots, blocks, sections, avenues, walks, alleys, and paths and their respective designations, to be filed at its on-site office, or if it does not maintain an on-site office, at its principal place of business. The cemetery authority shall update its map and index described in subsection (b-5) within a reasonable time after any expansion or alteration of the cemetery property. A cemetery manager's certificate acknowledging, accepting, and adopting the map shall also be included with the map. The Department may order that the cemetery authority obtain a cemetery plat and that it be filed at its on-site office, or if it does not maintain an on-site office, at its principal place of business if (1) a human body that should have been interred, entombed, or inurned at the cemetery after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly is missing, displaced, or dismembered and (2) the cemetery map contains serious discrepancies.

In exercising this discretion, the Department shall consider whether the cemetery authority would experience an undue hardship as a result of obtaining the plat. The cemetery plat, as with all plats prepared under this Act, shall comply with the Illinois Professional Land Surveyor Act of 1989 and shall delineate, describe, and set forth all lots or plots, blocks, sections, avenues, walks, alleys, and paths and their respective designations. A cemetery manager's certificate acknowledging, accepting, and adopting the plat shall also be included with the plat.

(b-5) A cemetery authority shall maintain an index that associates the identity of deceased persons interred, entombed, or inurned after the effective date of this Act with their respective place of interment, entombment, or inurnment.

(c) The cemetery authority shall open the cemetery map or plat to public inspection. The cemetery authority shall make available a copy of the overall cemetery map or plat upon written request and shall, if practical, provide a copy of a segment of the cemetery plat where interment rights are located upon the payment of reasonable photocopy fees. Any unsold lots, plots, or parts thereof, in which there are not human remains, may be resurveyed and altered in shape or size and properly designated on the cemetery map or plat. However, sold lots, plots, or parts thereof in which there are human remains may not be renumbered or renamed. Nothing contained in this subsection, however, shall prevent the cemetery authority from enlarging an interment right by selling to its owner the excess space next to the interment right and permitting interments therein, provided reasonable access to the interment right and to adjoining interment rights is not thereby eliminated.

(d) A cemetery authority shall keep a record of every interment, entombment, and inurnment completed after the effective date of this Act. The record shall include the deceased's name, age, date of burial, and the specific location of the interred, entombed, or inurned human remains. The specific location shall correspond to the map or plat maintained in accordance with subsection (b) of this Section.

(e) (Blank).

(f) A cemetery authority shall make publicly available for inspection and, upon reasonable request and the payment of a reasonable copying fee, provide a copy of its bylaws, rules and regulations through continuous publication on an Internet website or social media page, with a reference to and notice of the bylaws, rules, and regulations set forth in every contract or legal agreement with any person for services in relation to the cemetery. If the cemetery authority does not operate or maintain any website or social media page, then it shall provide a copy of its bylaws, rules, and regulations to each person either prior to or contemporaneous with the cemetery authority's representative's presentment of any contract or legal agreement for services in relation to the cemetery or within 5 days of such a person's request. A cemetery authority may charge a reasonable copying fee in exchange for a paper copy of the cemetery authority's bylaws, rules, and regulations. A cemetery authority shall make available for viewing and provide a copy of its current prices of interment, disinterment, inurnment, or entombment rights.

(g) A cemetery authority shall provide access to the cemetery under the cemetery authority's reasonable rules and regulations.

(h) A cemetery authority shall be responsible for the proper opening and closing of all graves, crypts, or niches for human remains in any cemetery property it owns.

(i) A licensed cemetery authority shall keep in this State and use in its business such records as will enable the Department to determine whether such licensee or trustee is complying with the provisions of this Act and with the rules, regulations, and directions made by the Department under this Act. The licensed cemetery authority shall keep the records in electronic or written format at the location identified in the license issued by the Department or as otherwise agreed by the Department in writing. The books, accounts, and records shall be accessible for review upon demand of the Department.

(Source: P.A. 96-863, eff. 3-1-10; 97-679, eff. 2-6-12.)

Section 10. The Vital Records Act is amended by changing Section 21 as follows:

(410 ILCS 535/21) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 73-21)

Sec. 21. (1) The funeral director or person acting as such who first assumes custody of a dead body or fetus shall make a written report to the registrar of the district in which death occurred or in which the body or fetus was found within 24 hours after taking custody of the body or fetus on a form prescribed and furnished by the State Registrar and in accordance with the rules promulgated by the State Registrar. Except as specified in paragraph (2) of this Section, the written report shall serve as a permit to transport, bury, or entomb the body or fetus within this State, provided that the funeral director or person acting as such shall certify that the certifying health care professional who, within 12 months prior to the date of the patient's death, was treating or managing treatment of the patient's illness or condition which resulted in death has been contacted and has affirmatively stated that he or she will sign the medical certificate of death or the fetal death certificate. If a funeral director fails to file written reports under this Section in a timely manner, the local registrar may suspend the funeral director's privilege of filing written reports by mail. In a county with a population greater than 3,000,000, if a funeral director or person acting as such inters or entombs a dead body without having previously certified that the certifying health care professional who, within 12 months prior to the date of the patient's death, was treating or managing treatment of the patient's illness or condition that resulted in death has been contacted and has affirmatively stated that he or she will sign the medical certificate of death, then that funeral director or person acting as such is responsible for payment of the specific costs incurred by the county medical examiner in disinterring and reinterring or reentombing the dead body.

(2) The written report as specified in paragraph (1) of this Section shall not serve as a permit to:

(a) Remove body or fetus from this State;

(b) Cremate the body or fetus; or

(c) Make disposal of any body or fetus in any manner when death is subject to the coroner's or medical examiner's investigation.

(3) In accordance with the provisions of paragraph (2) of this Section the funeral director or person acting as such who first assumes custody of a dead body or fetus shall obtain a permit for disposition of such dead human body prior to final disposition or removal from the State of the body or fetus. Such permit shall be issued by the registrar of the district where death occurred or the body or fetus was found. No such permit shall be issued until a properly completed certificate of death has been filed with the registrar. The registrar shall insure the issuance of a permit for disposition within an expedited period of time to accommodate Sunday or holiday burials of decedents whose time of death and religious tenets or beliefs necessitate Sunday or holiday burials.

(4) A permit which accompanies a dead body or fetus brought into this State shall be authority for final disposition of the body or fetus in this State, except in municipalities where local ordinance requires the issuance of a local permit prior to disposition.

(5) A permit for disposition of a dead human body shall be required prior to disinterment of a dead body or fetus, and when the disinterred body is to be shipped by a common carrier. Such permit shall be issued to a licensed funeral director or person acting as such, upon proper application, by the local registrar of the district in which disinterment is to be made. In the case of disinterment, proper application shall include a statement providing the name and address of any surviving spouse of the deceased, or, if none, any surviving children of the deceased, or if no surviving spouse or children, a parent, brother, or sister of the deceased. The application shall indicate whether the applicant is one of these parties and, if so, whether the applicant is a surviving spouse or a surviving child. Prior to the issuance of a permit for disinterment, the local registrar shall, by certified mail, notify the surviving spouse, unless he or she is the applicant, or if there is no surviving spouse, all surviving children except for the applicant, of the application for the permit. The person or persons notified shall have 30 days from the mailing of the notice to object by obtaining an injunction enjoining the issuance of the permit. After the 30-day period has expired, the local registrar shall issue the permit unless he or she has been enjoined from doing so or there are other statutory grounds for refusal. The notice to the spouse or surviving children shall inform the person or persons being notified of the right to seek an injunction within 30 days. If a court finds that a party to a disinterment dispute has acted in bad faith, the court may, in its sole discretion, award costs, including reasonable attorney's fees, against the person it finds has acted in bad faith.

Notwithstanding any other provision of this subsection (5), a court may order issuance of a permit for disinterment without notice or prior to the expiration of the 30-day period where the petition is made by an agency of any governmental unit and good cause is shown for disinterment without notice or for the early order. Nothing in this subsection (5) limits the authority of the City of Chicago to acquire property or otherwise exercise its powers under the O'Hare Modernization Act or requires that City, or any person acting on behalf of that City, to obtain a permit under this subsection (5) when exercising powers under the O'Hare Modernization Act. The Illinois Department of Transportation, and any person acting on its behalf under a public-private agreement entered into in accordance with the Public-Private Agreements for the South Suburban Airport Act, is exempt from this subsection (5), provided that the Illinois Department of Transportation, or any such person, takes reasonable steps to comply with the provisions of this subsection (5) so long as compliance does not interfere with the design, development, operation, or maintenance of the South Suburban Airport or the exercise of their powers under the Public-Private Agreements for the South Suburban Airport Act.

(Source: P.A. 102-257, eff. 1-1-22.)

Section 15. The Disposition of Remains Act is amended by changing Section 50 as follows:

(755 ILCS 65/50)

Sec. 50. Disputes.

(a) Any dispute among any of the persons listed in Section 5 concerning their right to control the disposition, including cremation, of a decedent's remains shall be resolved by a court of competent jurisdiction within 30 days of the dispute being filed with the court. A cemetery organization or funeral establishment shall not be liable for refusing to accept the decedent's remains, or to inter or otherwise dispose of the decedent's remains, until it receives a court order or other suitable confirmation that the dispute has been resolved or settled.

(b) Any dispute over a disinterment shall be resolved by a circuit court with all reasonable promptness by the court. If the court finds that a party to a disinterment dispute has acted in bad faith, the court may, in its sole discretion, award costs, including reasonable attorney's fees, against the person it finds has acted in bad faith.

(Source: P.A. 101-381, eff. 1-1-20.)

Section 20. The Cemetery Protection Act is amended by changing Section 2 as follows:

(765 ILCS 835/2) (from Ch. 21, par. 16)

Sec. 2. The cemetery authority is hereby authorized to make by-laws or rules and regulations for the government thereof, and to make rules regarding the driving of cars, motorcycles, carriages, processions, teams, and the speed thereof, the use of avenues, lots, walks, ponds, water courses, vaults, buildings, or other places within such cemetery, the operations and good management in such cemetery, the protection of visitors, the protection of employees, and for the maintenance of good order and quiet in such cemetery, all such rules to be subject to the rights of interment, entombment, or inurnment, and disinterment right owners, or others, owning any interest in such cemetery; and all persons found guilty of a violation of such rules shall be guilty of a petty offense and shall be punished by a fine of not less than $100, nor more than $500 for each offense. No judge shall be disqualified from hearing any cause that may be brought before him under the provisions of this Act, nor shall any person be disqualified from acting as a juror in such cause, by reason of any interest or ownership they or either of them may have in the interment, entombment, or inurnment rights of such cemetery. The bylaws, rules, and regulations shall be made publicly available through continuous publication on an Internet website or social media page, with a reference to and notice of the bylaws, rules, and regulations set forth in every contract or legal agreement with any person for services in relation to the cemetery. If the cemetery authority does not operate or maintain any website or social media page, then it shall provide a copy of the bylaws, rules, and regulations to each person either prior to or contemporaneous with the cemetery authority's representative's presentment of any contract or legal agreement for services in relation to the cemetery or within 5 days of such a person's request. A cemetery authority may charge a reasonable copying fee in exchange for a paper copy of the cemetery authority's bylaws, rules, and regulations.

(Source: P.A. 94-44, eff. 6-17-05.)