I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2706 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide priority for the establish-
ment of new national cemeteries by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 9, 2015 
Ms. TITUS (for herself, Mr. BISHOP of Utah, Mr. CRAMER, and Mr. STEW-
ART) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Veterans’ Affairs 
A BILL 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide priority 
for the establishment of new national cemeteries by the 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans National Re-
membrance Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW NATIONAL CEMETERIES 
BY THE SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2404 of title 38, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing new subsection: 
‘‘(i)(1) In selecting a location for the establishment 
of a new national cemetery under this chapter, the Sec-
retary shall— 
‘‘(A) give priority to a location in accordance 
with paragraph (2); and 
‘‘(B) with respect to a location given such pri-
ority, ensure that the location is within 10 miles of 
the location that the Secretary determines likely to 
have a significant amount of the population to be 
served by such national cemetery during the 25-year 
period following such establishment. 
‘‘(2)(A) Except as provided by subparagraph (C), in 
selecting a location for the establishment of a new national 
cemetery under this chapter, the Secretary shall give pri-
ority to a State that does not have a national cemetery. 
‘‘(B) In determining priority among more than one 
State described in subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall 
give priority to the State that has the largest population 
of veterans. 
‘‘(C) After any time that the Secretary establishes 
two national cemeteries in accordance with the priority de-
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scribed in subparagraph (A), the Secretary may waive the 
requirements of such priority in establishing the national 
cemetery that immediately follows such two national ceme-
teries if the Secretary determines that such waiver will 
allow the Secretary to establish a national cemetery that 
will serve a larger population of veterans as compared to 
establishing a national cemetery in accordance with such 
priority. 
‘‘(3) In this subsection, the term ‘national ceme-
tery’— 
‘‘(A) includes— 
‘‘(i) the cemeteries described in section 
2400(b) of this title; and 
‘‘(ii) any traditional or vaulted intern-
ments— 
‘‘(I) located on land that is larger 
than 20 acres; and 
‘‘(II) administered and operated by 
employees of the Department; and 
‘‘(B) does not include facilities of the National 
Cemetery Administration that are located in rural 
areas to serve small populations of veterans (com-
monly known as ‘National Burial Grounds’).’’. 
(b) CONSTRUCTION.—Subsection (i) of section 2404 
of title 38, United States Code, as added by subsection 
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(a), may not be construed as affecting the plans of the 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs, as of the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, to establish National Burial Grounds or 
National Columbaria. 
Æ 
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