[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2018 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2018

To amend title 38, United States Code, to identify the persons who are 
eligible to request headstones or markers furnished by the Secretary of 
                Veterans Affairs, and or other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 16, 2013

 Mr. Stivers (for himself, Mr. Tiberi, and Mrs. Beatty) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans' 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title 38, United States Code, to identify the persons who are 
eligible to request headstones or markers furnished by the Secretary of 
                Veterans Affairs, and or other purposes.

    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 ``Honor Those Who Served Act of 
2013''.

SEC. 2. PERSONS ELIGIBLE TO REQUEST HEADSTONES OR MARKERS FURNISHED BY 
              THE SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.

    (a) In General.--Section 2306 of title 38, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following new subsections:
    ``(h) A person may request a headstone or marker to commemorate a 
decedent under this section if the person is--
            ``(1) the decedent's next of kin;
            ``(2) a person authorized in writing by the decedent's next 
        of kin to make such request;
            ``(3) a personal representative authorized in writing by 
        the decedent to make such request;
            ``(4) in the case of a decedent for whom no person 
        described in paragraphs (1), (2), or (3) may be identified, a 
        State veterans service agency, a military researcher, a local 
        historian, or a genealogist or other person familiar with the 
        research sources and methods necessary to prove the identity of 
        the decedent; or
            ``(5) in the case of a decedent who is a veteran who served 
        on active duty in the Armed Forces at least 62 years before the 
        date on which the headstone or marker is requested, any person.
    ``(i) In the case of a request for a headstone or marker under this 
section for a decedent for whom insufficient information exists 
regarding the religious beliefs of the individual to select an 
appropriate emblem of belief for the headstone or marker of the 
decedent, the person requesting the headstone or marker may request a 
headstone or marker without an emblem of belief.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
apply with respect to a request for a headstone or marker submitted 
after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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