Current status is Referred to the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs.

119th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. R. 2078

1. Short title
2. Prohibition against interment or memorialization in the National Cemetery Administration or Arlington National Cemetery of persons committing Federal or State capital crimes
3. Disinterment of remains of George E. Siple from Indiantown Gap National Cemetery

1. Short title

This Act may be cited as the "Bertie’s Respect for National Cemeteries Act".

2. Prohibition against interment or memorialization in the National Cemetery Administration or Arlington National Cemetery of persons committing Federal or State capital crimes

(a) Responsibility of appropriate Federal official - Section 2411(a)(2) of title 38, United States Code, is amended—

(1) - by striking "In the case" and inserting "(A) Except as provided by subparagraph (B), in the case"; and

(2) - by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:

(B) - The appropriate Federal official shall take every reasonable action, including by searching public records, to ensure that a person who will be interred in a cemetery in the National Cemetery Administration or in Arlington National Cemetery is not ineligible for such interment by reason of this section.

(b) Authority To disinter - Section 2(c) of the Alicia Dawn Koehl Respect for National Cemeteries Act (38 U.S.C. 2411 note) is amended—

(1) - by striking "this section" and inserting "subsection (a)"; and

(2) - by inserting after "Arlington National Cemetery" the following: "on or after the date of the enactment of such section 2411 and the amendment made by subsection (b) shall apply with respect to any such interment or memorialization conducted".

3. Disinterment of remains of George E. Siple from Indiantown Gap National Cemetery

(a) Disinterment of remains - The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall disinter the remains of George E. Siple from Indiantown Gap National Cemetery.

(b) Notification of next-of-Kin - The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall—

(1) - notify the next-of-kin of record for George E. Siple of the impending disinterment of his remains; and

(2) - upon disinterment, relinquish the remains to the next-of-kin of record for George E. Siple or, if the next-of-kin of record for George E. Siple is unavailable, arrange for an appropriate disposition of the remains.