Second Regular Session
              Sixty-fourth General Assembly
                    STATE OF COLORADO
                                                 INTRODUCED
                                                           
                                                           
 LLS NO. 04-0261.01 Ed DeCecco           HOUSE BILL 04-1050
                    HOUSE SPONSORSHIP
 Butcher, 
 
                   SENATE SPONSORSHIP
 Tapia, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 House Committees
 Senate Committees
 
 
 Judiciary
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                         A BILL FOR AN ACT
       Concerning a prohibition against changing an inscription on
            a burial memorial without required permission.
       
       
                           Bill Summary
       
            (Note:  This summary applies to this bill as introduced and does
       not necessarily reflect any amendments that may be subsequently
       adopted.)
       
            Amends the existing law concerning defacing property, which is
       a misdemeanor, to include a change to an inscription on a burial memorial
       without the consent of the purchaser of the burial memorial or one of the
       decedent's next of kin.
       
       
       
       Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Colorado:
            SECTION 1.  18-4-509 (1) (b) and (2) (c), Colorado Revised
       Statutes, are amended to read:
            18-4-509.  Defacing property.  (1) (b) (I)  Any person who
       defaces or causes, aids in, or permits the defacing of public or private
       property without the consent of the owner by any method of defacement,
       including but not limited to painting, drawing, writing, or otherwise
       marring the surface of the property by use of paint, spray paint, ink, or
       any other substance or object, commits the crime of defacing property.
            (II)  Any person who changes the inscription on a burial
       memorial without the consent of the purchaser of the burial
       memorial or one of the decedent's next of kin commits the crime
       of defacing property.  For purposes of this subparagraph (II), an
       inscription shall include any words and symbols on a burial
       memorial, and a burial memorial shall include any type of
       gravestone, tombstone, headstone, memorial, monument, or
       marker that commemorates the permanent disposition of the
       remains of a human body.
            (2) (c)  In addition, upon each conviction for defacing property
       pursuant to subparagraph (I) of paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of this
       section, or adjudication as a juvenile delinquent for an act that would
       constitute defacing property pursuant to subparagraph (I) of paragraph
       (b) of subsection (1) of this section if committed by an adult, the
       offender's driver's license shall be revoked as provided in section
       42-2-125, C.R.S.
            SECTION 2.  Effective date - applicability.  This act shall take
       effect July 1, 2004, and shall apply to offenses committed on or after said
       date.
            SECTION 3.  Safety clause.  The general assembly hereby finds,
       determines, and declares that this act is necessary for the immediate
       preservation of the public peace, health, and safety.