HB510 Alabama 2018 Session

Under existing law, the owner or possessor of privately owned or leased property on which cemetery, graves, or burial sites are located, is required to allow reasonable access to those sites or graves to family members or friends of individuals buried upon, or to any person engaged in genealogical, historical, or cultural research on the property

This bill would provide that reasonable access to burial sites or graves located on privately owned or leased property would be granted no less than one time per month and during hours of normal daylight

This bill would provide that the violation of a right to access graves or burial sites located on privately owned or leased property would be a Class C misdemeanor

Amendment 621 of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, now appearing as Section 111.05 of the Official Recompilation of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, as amended, prohibits a general law whose purpose or effect would be to require a new or increased expenditure of local funds from becoming effective with regard to a local governmental entity without enactment by a 2/3 vote unless: it comes within one of a number of specified exceptions; it is approved by the affected entity; or the Legislature appropriates funds, or provides a local source of revenue, to the entity for the purpose

The purpose or effect of this bill would be to require a new or increased expenditure of local funds within the meaning of the amendment. However, the bill does not require approval of a local governmental entity or enactment by a 2/3 vote to become effective because it comes within one of the specified exceptions contained in the amendment

To amend Section 35-1-4, Code of Alabama 1975, to require an owner or possessor of privately owned or leased property on which a cemetery, graves, or burial sites are located to allow reasonable access to family members or friends of individuals buried thereupon, or to any person engaged in genealogical, historical, or cultural research on the property, at least one time per month and during hours of normal daylight; to provide criminal penalties for a violation of the right of a person to access a cemetery, grave, or burial site; and in connection therewith would have as its purpose or effect the requirement of a new or increased expenditure of local funds within the meaning of Amendment 621 of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, now appearing as Section 111.05 of the Official Recompilation of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, as amended.