225 ILCS 411/ Cemetery Oversight Act.

(225 ILCS 411/Art. 20 heading) Article 20. Business Practice Provisions (Article scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2027)(Source: P.A. 96-863, eff. 3-1-10.)

(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(Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2027)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 a copy of its rules and regulations through continuous publication on an Internet website or social media page, with a reference to and notice of the rules and regulations for services in relation to the cemetery. A cemetery authority that does not operate or maintain a website or social media page shall provide an electronic or paper copy of its rules and regulations upon request of any person within 5 days of the person's request. A cemetery authority may charge a reasonable copying fee for a paper copy of the cemetery authority's rules and regulations. A cemetery authority shall make available for viewing and provide a copy of its current prices of interment, inurnment, entombment rights, or disinterment services.

(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. 103-421, eff. 1-1-24.)

(225 ILCS 411/20-6)

(Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2027)

Sec. 20-6. Cemetery Oversight Database.

(a) Within 10 business days after an interment, entombment, or inurnment of human remains, the cemetery manager shall cause a record of the interment, entombment, or inurnment to be entered into the Cemetery Oversight Database. The requirement of this subsection (a) also applies in any instance in which human remains are relocated.

(b) Within 9 months after the effective date of this Act, the Department shall certify a database as the Cemetery Oversight Database. Upon certifying the database, the Department shall:

(1) provide reasonable notice to cemetery authorities identifying the database; and

(2) immediately upon certification, require each cemetery authority to use the Cemetery Oversight Database as a means of complying with subsection (a).

(c) In certifying the Cemetery Oversight Database, the Department shall ensure that the database:

(1) provides real-time access through an Internet connection or, if real-time access through an Internet connection becomes unavailable due to technical problems with the Cemetery Oversight Database incurred by the database provider or if obtaining use of an Internet connection would be an undue hardship on the cemetery authority, through alternative mechanisms, including, but not limited to, telephone;

(2) is accessible to the Department and to cemetery managers in order to ensure compliance with this Act and in order to provide any other information that the Department deems necessary;

(3) requires cemetery authorities to input whatever information required by the Department;

(4) maintains a real-time copy of the required reporting information that is available to the Department at all times and is the property of the Department; and

(5) contains safeguards to ensure that all information contained in the Cemetery Oversight Database is secure.

(d) A cemetery authority may rely on the information contained in the Cemetery Oversight Database as accurate and is not subject to any administrative penalty or liability as a result of relying on inaccurate information contained in the database.

(e) The Cemetery Oversight Database provider shall indemnify cemetery authorities against all claims and actions arising from illegal, willful, or wanton acts on the part of the Database provider. The Cemetery Oversight Database provider shall at all times maintain an electronic backup copy of the information it receives pursuant to subsection (a).

(f) In the event the provider of the database imposes a fee for entries into the database, the fee shall be paid directly by the Department to the provider, and the fee may not be imposed upon cemetery authorities making entries into the database. However, the provider need not refund any entry fees paid by cemetery authorities prior to the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 97th General Assembly.

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

(225 ILCS 411/20-8)

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

Sec. 20-8. Vehicle traffic control. A cemetery authority shall use its reasonable best efforts to ensure that funeral processions entering and exiting the cemetery grounds do not obstruct traffic on any street for a period in excess of 10 minutes, except where such funeral procession is continuously moving or cannot be moved by reason of circumstances over which the cemetery authority has no reasonable control. The cemetery authority shall use its reasonable best efforts to help prevent multiple funeral processions from arriving at the cemetery simultaneously. Notwithstanding any provision of this Act to the contrary, a cemetery authority that violates the provisions of this Section shall be guilty of a business offense and punishable by a fine of not more than $500 for each offense.

(Source: P.A. 96-863, eff. 3-1-10.)

(225 ILCS 411/20-10)

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

Sec. 20-10. Contract.

(a) At the time cemetery arrangements are made and prior to rendering the cemetery services, a cemetery authority shall create a completed written contract to be provided to the consumer, signed by both parties by their actual written signatures on either paper or electronic form, that shall contain: (i) the date on which the arrangements were made; (ii) the price of the service selected and the services and merchandise included for that price; (iii) the supplemental items of service and merchandise requested and the price of each item; (iv) the terms or method of payment agreed upon; and (v) a statement as to any monetary advances made on behalf of the family. The cemetery authority shall maintain a copy of such written contract in its permanent records.

(b) Any retail installment contract for the purchase of interment, entombment, or inurnment rights shall contain a clearly worded notice in 12-point type, bold, underlined, and capital letters, that rights to a deeded interest do not vest until final payment and that upon an uncured default, including when a contract is rolled into a new open-balance retail installment contract, with additional interment, entombment, or inurnment rights or additional cemetery merchandise or services, there will be no deeded interest.

(Source: P.A. 102-20, eff. 6-25-21; 103-206, eff. 1-1-24.)

(225 ILCS 411/20-11)

Sec. 20-11. (Repealed).

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

(225 ILCS 411/20-12)

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

Sec. 20-12. Method of payment; receipt. No cemetery authority shall require payment for any goods, services, or easement by cash only. Each cemetery authority subject to this Section shall permit payment by at least one other option, including, but not limited to, personal check, cashier's check, money order, or credit or debit card. In addition to the contract for the sale of cemetery goods, services, or easements, the cemetery authority shall provide a receipt to the consumer upon payment in part or full, whatever the case may be.

(Source: P.A. 96-863, eff. 3-1-10.)

(225 ILCS 411/20-15)

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

Sec. 20-15. Interment or inurnment in cemetery. No cemetery authority shall interfere with a licensed funeral director or his or her designated agent observing the final burial or disposition of a body for which the funeral director has a contract for services related to that deceased individual. No funeral director or his or her designated agent shall interfere with a licensed cemetery authority or its designated agent's rendering of burial or other disposition services for a body for which the cemetery authority has a contract for goods, services, or property related to that deceased individual.

(Source: P.A. 96-863, eff. 3-1-10.)

(225 ILCS 411/20-20)

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

Sec. 20-20. Display of license. Every cemetery authority, cemetery manager, and customer service employee license issued by the Department shall state the number of the license and the address at which the business is to be conducted. Such license shall be kept conspicuously posted in the place of business of the licensee and shall not be transferable or assignable. Nothing in this Act shall prevent an individual from acting as a licensed cemetery manager or customer service employee for more than one cemetery. A cemetery manager or customer service employee who works at more than one cemetery shall display an original version of his or her license at each location for which the individual serves as a cemetery manager or customer service employee.

(Source: P.A. 96-863, eff. 3-1-10.)