Definitions

The following words and phrases when used in this Chapter shall have the meanings given to them in this Section unless the context clearly indicates otherwise: (1) "Abandoned cemetery" shall mean any cemetery which is no longer being used for interments, is not being maintained in good condition, and has fallen into a state of disrepair, including tombs and headstones that have collapsed or been destroyed, walls and fences that have fallen apart, and trees and bushes that have grown amongst and within grave spaces. (2) Repealed by Acts 2016, No. 614, §5(A). (3) "Artifact" shall mean any item of human manufacture or use that is associated with a historic cemetery or isolated grave. (4) "Board" shall mean the Louisiana Cemetery Board. (5) "Damage" shall mean the intentional or inadvertent hurt, harm, or injury to a component of a historic cemetery or to an isolated grave so as to lessen or destroy its historic, cultural, or scientific value. (6) "Department" shall mean the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism. (7) "Destruction" shall mean intentionally or inadvertently destroying components of a historic cemetery by violent disintegration of its fabric so as to reduce the components to ruin. (8) "Division" shall mean the office of cultural development, division of archaeology, within the department. (9) "Grave space" shall mean a grave, crypt, vault, niche, tomb, lawn crypt, or any other property used or intended to be used for the interment of human remains. The term shall also include any marker or other means of commemoration associated with the grave space. (10) "Historic cemetery" shall mean any abandoned cemetery located in the state that is more than fifty years old and is not subject to the laws, rules, and regulations of the board or Chapter 10-A of Title 8 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950. (11) "Human skeletal remains" shall mean any part of the body of a deceased human being in any stage of decomposition. (12) "Isolated grave" shall mean any marked grave site that is not part of a larger cemetery and is not subject to the laws, rules, and regulations of the board or Chapter 10-A of Title 8 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950. The term shall also include groupings of multiple graves that are not part of a larger cemetery. (13) "Modification" shall mean the altering of the original substance of a grave space. (14) "Program" shall mean the Louisiana Historic Cemetery Preservation Program. (15) "Unmarked burial site" shall have the same meaning as provided in R.S. 8:673. (16) Repealed by Acts 2012, No. 834, §13, eff. July 1, 2012.