Public Act 094-0608
 
SB1210 Enrolled LRB094 04866 LCB 34895 b

    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.

Effective Date: 8/16/2005