Title: Fairness for Local Veteran Cemeteries Act
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
Fairness for Local Veteran Cemeteries Act
This bill authorizes the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide a grant under the Veteran Cemetery Grants Program to a county to establish, expand, improve, operate, or maintain a county-owned veterans' cemetery. Under current law, such grants are only authorized to be issued to states, tribal organizations, and U.S. territories or possessions.
The VA is only able to provide such grants under certain circumstances. Specifically, grants are only authorized if the state in which the county is located does not have a state-owned veterans' cemetery or the state did not apply for a grant in the previous year. Additionally, a county must demonstrate that it has the resources necessary to operate and maintain its cemetery.
The VA must give priority to state-owned cemeteries in situations where both the county and the state apply for a grant in the same year.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5048 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5048

 To amend title 38, United States Code, to authorize the Secretary of 
    Veterans Affairs to provide aid to counties for establishment, 
          expansion, and improvement of veterans' cemeteries.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 12, 2019

   Mr. Delgado (for himself, Ms. Stefanik, Mr. Young, and Mr. Mast) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                           Veterans' Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 38, United States Code, to authorize the Secretary of 
    Veterans Affairs to provide aid to counties for establishment, 
          expansion, and improvement of veterans' cemeteries.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Fairness for Local Veteran 
Cemeteries Act''.

SEC. 2. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS AID TO COUNTIES FOR 
              ESTABLISHMENT, EXPANSION, AND IMPROVEMENT OF VETERANS' 
              CEMETERIES.

    (a) In General.--Section 2408 of title 38, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) by inserting ``or county'' after ``State'' each place 
        it appears; and
            (2) in subsection (a), by adding at the end the following 
        new paragraph:
    ``(3)(A) The Secretary may make a grant to a county under this 
section only if--
            ``(i)(I) the State in which the county is located does not 
        have a veterans' cemetery owned by the State; or
            ``(II) the State in which the county is located did not 
        apply for a grant during the previous year; and
            ``(ii) the county demonstrates in the application under 
        paragraph (2), to the satisfaction of the Secretary, that the 
        county has the resources necessary to operate and maintain the 
        veterans' cemetery owned by the county.
    ``(B) If a county and the State in which the county is located both 
apply for a grant under this section for the same year, the Secretary 
shall give priority to the State.
    ``(C) The Secretary shall prescribe regulations to carry out this 
paragraph.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendments.--
            (1) Section heading.--The heading of such section is 
        amended by inserting ``and counties'' after ``States''.
            (2) Table of sections.--The table of sections at the 
        beginning of chapter 24 of such title is amended by striking 
        the item relating to section 2408 and inserting the following 
        new item:

``2408. Aid to States and counties for establishment, expansion, and 
                            improvement of veterans' cemeteries.''.
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