>Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2003 16:59:09 -0600 >X-From_: suzy@arkansas.net Sun Apr 13 16:59:02 2003 >From: "Cassie Elliott" <suzy@arkansas.net> > >It has been requested that I include the text in case someone does not >have Acrobat Reader. Here it is! Please note that the numbers are line >numbers of the page, they have no meaning to the bill. > >Cassie > >Stricken language would be deleted from and underlined language would be >added to the law as it existed prior to this session of the General Assembly. > >*CDW148* 03052003MGF1025.CDW148 >State of Arkansas As Engrossed: H3/12/03 H3/28/03 1 >84th General Assembly A Bill 2 >Regular Session, 2003 HOUSE BILL 2263 3 >4 >By: Representative Pace 5 >6 >7 >For An Act To Be Entitled 8 >AN ACT TO PROTECT CEMETERIES FROM DESECRATION AND 9 > >DISPLACEMENT; TO PROVIDE FUNDS FOR UPKEEP OF 10 > >CEMETERIES; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES. 11 > >12 > >Subtitle 13 > >AN ACT TO PROTECT CEMETERIES FROM 14 > >DESECRATION AND DISPLACEMENT AND TO 15 > >PROVIDE FUNDS FOR UPKEEP OF CEMETERIES. 16 > >17 > >18 > >BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS: 19 > >20 > >SECTION 1. Arkansas Code § 5-39-211(a), concerning unlawful mining and 21 > >entries into cemeteries, is amended to read as follows: 22 > >(a) It shall be unlawful for any corporation, company, or individual 23 > >to: 24 > >(1) Mine, extract, or remove coal or any other mineral or 25 > >substance from under, or beneath, or within fifty (50) feet of the boundary 26 > >of any cemetery, graveyard, or burying place in this state; 27 > >(2) Make, place, or drive any slope, pit, or entry of any kind 28 > >into, under, through, or across any cemetery, graveyard, or other burying 29 > >place in this state. 30 > >31 > >SECTION 2. Arkansas Code § 5-39-212 is amended to read as follows: 32 > >5-39-212. Cemeteries - Access - Debris - Disturbance. 33 > >(a)(1) It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, corporation, 34 > >partnership, or association to construct any fence on any property in such 35 > >manner as to enclose any cemetery unless suitable reasonable access by 36 > >automobile to the cemetery is provided by gate or otherwise. The word 1 > >"cemetery", as used in this subsection, is not intended to apply to any 2 > >private family burial plot which contains fewer than six (6) commercial >grave 3 > >markers and has not been used for burial purposes for at least twenty-five 4 > >(25) years and which has not had an access road to the burial plot for at 5 > >least thirty (30) years. 6 > >(2) Nothing in this section prohibits the placement of a fence 7 > >around any cemetery for the purpose of defining boundaries or protection of 8 > >grave sites, if all fences and gates are sufficiently maintained;. 9 > >(b)(1) Any person, firm, corporation, partnership, or association 10 > >violating any of the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a 11 > >misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined in any sum not less than ten 12 > >dollars ($10.00) nor more than one hundred dollars ($100), and every day >that 13 > >the violation shall exist shall be a separate offense. 14 > >(2) Fines collected shall be used by the local government toward 15 > >upkeep, maintenance, and administrative costs of abandoned cemeteries. 16 > >(c) As used in this section, "cemetery" means any burying place for 17 > >the dead, a burial plot, or a graveyard on any land, public or private, >that 18 > >includes one (1) or more grave sites, whether marked or unmarked, by 19 > >commercial or native stone. 20 > >21 > >SECTION 3 . Arkansas Code § 5-39-401 is amended to read as follows: 22 > >5-39-401. Destruction or removal. 23 > >It is unlawful for any person, corporation, company, or other legal 24 > >entity to destroy or carry away any cemetery marker or grave marker. 25 > >26 > >SECTION 4. Arkansas Code § 5-71-215(a), concerning defacing of objects 27 > >of public respect, is amended to read as follows: 28 > >5-71-215. Defacing objects of public respect. 29 > >(a) A person commits the offense of defacing objects of public respect 30 > >if he purposely: 31 > >(1) Defaces, mars, or otherwise damages any public monument; 32 > >(2) Defaces, mars, or otherwise damages a work of art on display 33 > >in any public place; or 34 > >(3) Defaces, mars, desecrates, or otherwise damages any place of 35 > >worship, cemetery, or burial monument.; or 36 > >(4) Removes broken or unbroken, commercial or rock grave markers 1 > >for any reason, except for cleaning or repair by a family member, caretaker, 2 > >or preservation organization. 3 > >4 > >SECTION 5. Arkansas Code § 13-6-408(c), concerning desecration of 5 > >burial grounds and burial furniture, is amended to read as follows: 6 > >(c) Exempted from this section is disturbance of human skeletal burial 7 > >remains or burial furniture by landowners or agricultural tenants as a 8 > >consequence of agricultural activity, or any other activity, unless the 9 > >landowner or agricultural tenant willfully desecrates or knowingly allows 10 > >desecration of a cemetery or burial site. 11 > >12 > >/s/ Pace 13 > >14 > >15 > >16 > >17 > >18 > >19 > >20 > >21 > >22 > >23 > >24 > >25 > >26 > >27 > >28 > >29 > >30 > >31 > >32 > >33 > >34 > >35 > >36 > >