113 S1471 IS: Alicia Dawn Koehl Respect for National Cemeteries Act
U.S. Senate
2013-08-01
text/xml
EN
Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
1.This Act may be cited as
the Alicia Dawn Koehl Respect for
National Cemeteries Act
.
2.Authority to
reconsider decisions of Secretary of Veterans Affairs or Secretary of the Army
to inter the remains or honor the memory of a person in a national
cemetery
(a)Authority To
reconsider prior decisionsSection 2411 of title 38, United
States Code, is amended—
(1)by redesignating
subsection (d) as subsection (e); and
(2)by inserting
after subsection (c) the following new subsection (d):
(d)(1)In a case described in
paragraph (2)(A), the appropriate Federal official may reconsider a decision
to—
(A)inter the remains of a person in a
cemetery in the National Cemetery Administration or in Arlington National
Cemetery; or
(B)honor the memory of a person in a
memorial area in a cemetery in the National Cemetery Administration (described
in section 2403(a) of this title) or in such an area in Arlington National
Cemetery (described in section 2409(a) of this title).
(2)(A)A case described in
this paragraph is a case in which the appropriate Federal official receives
information that a person described in subparagraph (B) may have committed a
Federal capital crime or a State capital crime but was not convicted of such
crime by reason of such person not being available for trial due to death or
flight to avoid prosecution.
(B)A person described in this
subparagraph is a person—
(i)whose remains have been interred in a
cemetery in the National Cemetery Administration or in Arlington National
Cemetery; or
(ii)whose memory has been honored in a
memorial area in a cemetery in the National Cemetery Administration or in such
an area in Arlington National Cemetery.
(3)(A)If in a case described
in paragraph (2), the appropriate Federal official finds, based upon a showing
of clear and convincing evidence and after an opportunity for a hearing in a
manner prescribed by the appropriate Federal official, that the person had
committed a Federal capital crime or a State capital crime but had not been
convicted of such crime by reason of such person not being available for trial
due to death or flight to avoid prosecution, the appropriate Federal official
shall provide notice to the deceased person’s next of kin or other person
authorized to arrange burial or memorialization of the deceased person of the
decision of the appropriate Federal official to disinter the remains of the
deceased person or to remove a memorial headstone or marker memorializing the
deceased person.
(B)Notice under subparagraph (A) shall
be provided by the appropriate Federal official as follows:
(i)By the Secretary in accordance with
section 5104 of this title.
(ii)By the Secretary of Defense in
accordance with such regulations as the Secretary of Defense shall prescribe
for purposes of this subsection.
(4)(A)Notwithstanding any
other provision of law, the next of kin or other person authorized to arrange
burial or memorialization of the deceased person shall be allowed a period of
60 days from the date of the notice required by paragraph (3) to file a notice
of disagreement with the Federal official that provided the notice.
(B)(i)A notice of
disagreement filed with the Secretary under subparagraph (A) shall be treated
as a notice of disagreement filed with the Board of Veterans’ Appeals under
chapter 71 of this title, and shall be decided by the Board in accordance with
the provisions of that chapter.
(ii)A notice of disagreement filed with
the Secretary of Defense under subparagraph (A) shall be decided in accordance
with such regulations as the Secretary of Defense shall prescribe for purposes
of this subsection.
(5)When the decision of the appropriate
Federal official to disinter the remains or remove a memorial headstone or
marker of the deceased person becomes final either by failure to appeal the
decision in accordance with paragraph (4)(A) or by a decision pursuant to
paragraph (4)(B), the appropriate Federal official may take any of the
following actions:
(A)Disinter the remains of the person
from the cemetery in the National Cemetery Administration or in Arlington
National Cemetery and provide for the reburial or other appropriate disposition
of the disinterred remains in a place other than a cemetery in the National
Cemetery Administration or in Arlington National Cemetery.
(B)Remove from a memorial area in a
cemetery in the National Cemetery Administration or in Arlington National
Cemetery any memorial headstone or marker placed to honor the memory of the
person.
.
(b)The
amendments made by subsection (a) shall apply with respect to any interment or
memorialization conducted by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs or the Secretary
of the Army in a cemetery in the National Cemetery Administration or in
Arlington National Cemetery after the date of the enactment of this Act.
3.Disinterment of
remains of Michael LaShawn Anderson from Fort Custer National Cemetery
(a)The Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall disinter the
remains of Michael LaShawn Anderson from Fort Custer National Cemetery.
(b)Notification of
Next-of-KinThe Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall—
(1)notify the
next-of-kin of record for Michael LaShawn Anderson of the impending
disinterment of his remains; and
(2)upon
disinterment, relinquish the remains to the next-of-kin of record for Michael
LaShawn Anderson or, if the next-of-kin of record for Michael LaShawn Anderson
is unavailable, arrange for an appropriate disposition of the remains.