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.