Burial Equity for Guards and Reserves Act of 2020

To amend title 38, United States Code, to ensure that grants provided by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs for State veterans’ cemeteries do not restrict States from authorizing the interment of certain deceased members of the reserve components of the Armed Forces in such cemeteries, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Burial Equity for Guards and Reserves Act of 2020 2. Prohibitions on restricting interment of certain individuals in certain State veterans' cemeteries Section 2408 of title 38, United States Code, is amended— (1) in subsection (c)(2), by striking The Secretary may Except as provided in subsection (e), the Secretary may (2) by redesignating subsections (e) and (f) as subsections (g) and (h), respectively; and (3) by inserting after subsection (d) the following new subsections: (e) (1) The Secretary may not establish a condition for a grant under this section that restricts the ability of a State receiving such a grant to inter in a veterans' cemetery owned by that State any individual described in paragraph (2) solely by reason of the ineligibility of such individual for burial in an open national cemetery under the control of the National Cemetery Administration under section 2402(a) of this title. (2) An individual described in this paragraph is the following: (A) Any member of a reserve component of the Armed Forces whose service was terminated under honorable conditions. (B) Any member of the Army National Guard or the Air National Guard whose service was terminated under honorable conditions. (C) Any member of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps of the Army, Navy, or Air Force whose death occurs under honorable conditions while a member of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps of the Army, Navy, or Air Force. (D) Any spouse of any member described in subparagraphs (A) through (C). (f) The Secretary may not deny an application for a grant under this section solely on the basis that the State receiving such grant may use funds from such grant to expand, improve, operate, or maintain a veterans’ cemetery to allow for the interment of individuals described in subsection (e)(2). . 3. Prohibition on enforcing certain conditions on grants for State veterans' cemeteries The Secretary of Veterans Affairs may not enforce a condition on a grant described in subsection (e)(1) of section 2408 of title 38, United States Code, as added by section 2(3), that was established before the date of the enactment of this Act.

Summary: Burial Equity for Guards and Reserves Act of 2020 This bill prohibits the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) from establishing a condition for a cemetery grant that restricts the ability of a state to inter certain reservists (or spouses) at a state-owned veterans' cemetery solely because such individuals are ineligible for burial in an open national cemetery. Specifically, as a condition for grants, the VA cannot restrict the ability of a state to inter a member of a reserve component whose service was terminated under honorable conditions; member of the Army National Guard or Air National Guard whose service was terminated under honorable conditions; member of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps of the Army, Navy, or Air Force who died under honorable conditions while a member; and spouse of any member described above. The VA is prohibited from (1) denying an application for a grant solely on the basis that the recipient state may use funds to expand, improve, operate, or maintain a veterans' cemetery to allow for the internment of the specified reservists; and (2) enforcing certain conditions on grants for state veterans' cemeteries that were established before the date of enactment of this bill.