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117-s-4949117th Congress

National Cemeteries Preservation and Protection Act of 2022

Sponsored By: Senator Tester, Jon [D-MT]

Became Law

Summary

Strengthens and expands veteran burial benefits and national cemetery rules. It authorizes certain tribal-land burial payments, creates legal green-burial sections in national cemeteries, enables targeted land transfers for expansion, and narrows who may be interred or memorialized based on serious criminal conduct.

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  • Veterans and tribal cemetery operators: Tribal organizations may apply for a plot or interment allowance for a veteran buried before March 15, 2022 on land owned by or held in trust for the tribe, if no other allowance already applies and statutory conditions are met.
  • Families choosing eco-friendly burials: The Secretary of Veterans Affairs may designate green burial sections in any national cemetery. Green burials must avoid chemicals and embalming fluids, use natural or fully biodegradable receptacles, and may receive grave markers and seasonal markers as authorized by the Secretary.
  • VA, Department of Defense, and public safety: The law allows transfer of about two acres near Fort Bliss National Cemetery to the VA for expansion, with environmental review, Army coordination, and VA payment of survey and implementation costs. It also broadens bans on interment or memorialization to include people who committed Federal or State crimes that would make them Tier III offenders under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act and those found to have committed such crimes but not convicted due to death or flight.

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

4 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 1 costs, 0 mixed.

Burial payment for veterans on tribal land

The VA pays a plot or interment allowance for some earlier burials on tribal land. The veteran must have been buried before March 15, 2022. The cemetery or section must be on land owned by, or held in trust for, a tribal organization. The tribal organization must apply, and no payment can have been made under paragraph (2). All other rules of 38 U.S.C. 2303(b)(1) still apply.

Green burial options at national cemeteries

The VA can set up green burial sections in national cemeteries. Remains are prepared without embalming chemicals and use natural or fully biodegradable containers. The VA decides what grave markers are allowed in these sections. This gives families another burial choice.

Easier land transfers for cemeteries

At Fort Bliss, the Army can transfer about two acres next to the cemetery to the VA. The VA pays for the survey and reimburses the Army’s costs to carry out the transfer. The VA does not pay market value for the land. More broadly, Interior land can move to the VA for cemetery use when both agencies agree. That land is withdrawn from mining and other claims and stays under VA control for cemetery use.

Stricter burial bans for serious offenders

The law bars interment or memorials in national cemeteries for people who committed certain serious crimes. This includes crimes that make someone a tier III sex offender. It also applies when the person died or fled before trial but is found to have committed the crime. The law updates references and treats 99‑year sentences like life terms.

Sponsors & CoSponsors

Sponsor

Tester, Jon [D-MT]

MT • D

Cosponsors

  • Sen. Rounds, Mike [R-SD]

    SD • R

    Sponsored 9/27/2022

Roll Call Votes

No roll call votes available for this bill.

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