[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 181 (Wednesday, September 19, 2007)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 53430-53432]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-18503]


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DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

38 CFR Part 38

RIN 2900-AM64


Government-Furnished Headstone and Marker Regulations

AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs.

ACTION: Final rule.

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[[Page 53431]]

SUMMARY: This final rule amends the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) 
regulations applicable to Government-furnished headstones or markers 
for placement in a national, State veterans, or private cemetery. The 
final rule specifies that a veteran's spouse or surviving spouse, whose 
remains are unavailable for burial, and who died after November 11, 
1998, is eligible for a memorial headstone or marker for placement in a 
national or State veterans cemetery. This final rule also specifies 
that a veteran's dependent child, whose remains are unavailable for 
burial, and who died after December 22, 2006, is eligible for a 
memorial headstone or marker for placement in a national or State 
veterans cemetery. Lastly, this final rule extends for 1 year the 
authority to provide a Government-furnished headstone or marker for 
already marked graves of eligible veterans whose deaths occurred on or 
after September 11, 2001, for placement in private cemeteries. This 
final rule is necessary to incorporate statutory amendments into VA 
regulations.

DATES: Effective Date: September 19, 2007.
    Applicability Dates: The amendments to 38 CFR 38.630 shall apply to 
requests for memorialization of a veteran's spouse or surviving spouse 
whose death occurred after November 11, 1998, and to requests for 
memorialization of a veteran's dependent child whose death occurred 
after December 22, 2006. The amendments to 38 CFR 38.631 apply to 
eligible veteran deaths occurring on or after September 11, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Deanna Wilson, Chief, Legislative and 
Regulatory Division, National Cemetery Administration, Department of 
Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20420. 
Telephone: (202) 273-5306 (this is not a toll-free number).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The National Cemetery Administration 
administers VA's memorial benefit programs, which include providing 
interment or memorialization of eligible deceased veterans, their 
spouses, and eligible dependents in national or State veterans 
cemeteries. For eligible veterans, VA provides, upon request, to any 
cemetery in the world, a Government-furnished headstone or marker to 
mark the burial location of a deceased veteran's remains. Under Public 
Law 107-103, the Veterans Education and Benefits Expansion Act of 2001, 
VA had authority to furnish a Government marker to mark the grave of a 
veteran buried in a private cemetery, regardless of whether the grave 
was already marked with a privately purchased headstone or marker. This 
authority expired on December 31, 2006; however, Public Law 109-461, 
the Veterans Benefits, Health Care, and Information Technology Act of 
2006, extended this authority until December 31, 2007. The Act also 
amended the governing statute, 38 U.S.C. 2306(d), to clarify that VA 
could furnish either a headstone or a marker and to clarify the 
requirements for delivery and placement of Government-furnished 
headstones and markers. This final rule amends 38 CFR 38.631 to make it 
consistent with the amended statute.
    VA also furnishes a memorial headstone or marker with the mandatory 
inscription ``In Memory Of'' to commemorate certain individuals whose 
remains are not available for interment, i.e., have not been recovered 
or identified, were buried at sea, were donated to science, or were 
cremated and the ashes scattered. Originally, VA was authorized to 
furnish a memorial headstone or marker only for an eligible veteran, 
and the headstone or marker had to be placed in a national cemetery. 
However, Public Law 105-368, the Veterans Programs Enhancement Act of 
1998, permitted a veteran's memorial headstone or marker to be placed 
in a national, state or private cemetery. Public Law 105-368 also 
expanded eligibility to include a veteran's spouse or surviving spouse 
whose remains are unavailable and permitted a memorial headstone or 
marker to be placed in a national or State veterans cemetery for deaths 
occurring after November 11, 1998.
    Public Law 109-461 recently expanded eligibility to an eligible 
dependent child of a veteran whose remains are unavailable and permits 
placement of a memorial headstone or marker in a national or State 
veterans cemetery. The expanded eligibility applies to individuals who 
die after December 22, 2006. This final rule amends 38 CFR 38.630 to 
make it consistent with the amended statute.

Administrative Procedure Act

    Because these amendments merely reflect statutory changes, this 
rule-making is exempt from the prior notice-and-comment and delayed-
effective-date requirements of 5 U.S.C. 553.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    This document contains no provisions constituting a collection of 
information under the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501-3521). 
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) previously approved all 
collections of information referenced in this final rule under control 
number 2900-0222. This rule does not change those collections.

Executive Order 12866

    Executive Order 12866 directs agencies to assess all costs and 
benefits of available regulatory alternatives and, when regulation is 
necessary, to select regulatory approaches that maximize net benefits 
(including potential economic, environmental, public health and safety, 
and other advantages; distributive impacts; and equity). The Executive 
Order classifies a ``significant regulatory action,'' requiring review 
by OMB unless OMB waives such review, as any regulatory action that is 
likely to result in a rule that may: (1) Have an annual effect on the 
economy of $100 million or more or adversely affect in a material way 
the economy, a sector of the economy, productivity, competition, jobs, 
the environment, public health or safety, or State, local, or tribal 
governments or communities; (2) create a serious inconsistency or 
interfere with an action taken or planned by another agency; (3) 
materially alter the budgetary impact of entitlements, grants, user 
fees, or loan programs or the rights and obligations of recipients 
thereof; or (4) raise novel legal or policy issues arising out of legal 
mandates, the President's priorities, or the principles set forth in 
the Executive Order.
    The economic, interagency, budgetary, legal, and policy 
implications of this final rule have been examined and it has been 
determined not to be a significant regulatory action under the 
Executive Order 12866.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

    The initial and final regulatory flexibility analysis requirements 
of sections 603 and 604 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 
601-612, are not applicable to this rule because a notice of proposed 
rulemaking is not required for this rule. Even so, the Secretary of 
Veterans Affairs hereby certifies that this final rule will not have a 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities 
as they are defined in the Regulatory Flexibility Act. This final rule 
would not affect any small entities. Only individual VA beneficiaries 
would be directly affected. Therefore, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 605(b), 
this final rule is also exempt from the regulatory flexibility analysis 
requirements of sections 603 and 604.

Unfunded Mandates

    The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 requires, at 2 U.S.C. 
1532, that agencies prepare an assessment of anticipated costs and 
benefits before

[[Page 53432]]

issuing any rule that may result in an expenditure by State, local, or 
tribal governments, in the aggregate, or by the private sector, of $100 
million or more (adjusted annually for inflation) in any one year. This 
final rule would have no such effect on State, local, or tribal 
governments, or on the private sector.

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Numbers and Titles

    The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance program numbers and 
titles for this final rule are 64.201, National Cemeteries; and 64.202, 
Procurement of Headstones and Markers and/or Presidential Memorial 
Certificates.

List of Subjects in 38 CFR Part 38

    Administrative practice and procedure, Cemeteries, Veterans.

    Approved: August 27, 2007.
Gordon H. Mansfield,
Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

0
For the reasons stated in the preamble, the Department of Veterans 
Affairs amends 38 CFR part 38 as set forth below:

PART 38--NATIONAL CEMETERIES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

0
1. The authority citation for part 38 is revised to read as follows:

    Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501(a), 2306, unless otherwise noted.

0
2. Revise Sec.  38.630(c) to read as follows:


Sec.  38.630  Headstones and markers.

* * * * *
    (c) Memorial headstones or markers. VA will furnish, when 
requested, a memorial headstone or marker to commemorate an eligible 
individual whose remains are unavailable. A Government memorial 
headstone or marker for placement in a national cemetery will be of the 
standard design authorized for the cemetery in which it will be placed. 
In addition to the authorized inscription on a Government memorial 
headstone or marker, the phrase ``In Memory Of'' is mandatory.
    (1) Eligible individuals. An eligible individual for purposes of 
paragraph (c) is:
    (i) A veteran, which includes an individual who dies in the active 
military, naval, or air service;
    (ii) The spouse or surviving spouse of a veteran, which includes an 
unremarried surviving spouse whose subsequent remarriage was terminated 
by death or divorce; or
    (iii) An eligible dependent child of a veteran.
    (A) A dependent child of a veteran is eligible if the child is 
under the age of 21 years, or under the age of 23 years if pursuing a 
course of instruction at an approved educational institution.
    (B) A dependent child of a veteran is also eligible if the child is 
unmarried and became permanently physically or mentally disabled and 
incapable of self-support before reaching the age of 21 years, or 
before reaching the age of 23 years if pursuing a course of instruction 
at an approved educational institution.
    (2) Unavailable remains. An individual's remains are considered 
unavailable if they:
    (i) Have not been recovered or identified;
    (ii) Were buried at sea, whether by the individual's own choice or 
otherwise;
    (iii) Were donated to science; or
    (iv) Were cremated and the ashes scattered without interment of any 
portion of the ashes.
    (3) Placement of memorial headstones or markers. (i) Veterans. A 
Government memorial headstone or marker to commemorate a veteran may be 
placed in a national cemetery, in a State veterans cemetery, or in a 
private cemetery.
    (ii) Other eligible individuals. A Government memorial headstone or 
marker to commemorate a veteran's spouse or surviving spouse, who died 
after November 11, 1998, may be placed in a national cemetery or in a 
State veterans cemetery. A Government memorial headstone or marker to 
commemorate a veteran's dependent child who died after December 22, 
2006, may be placed in a national cemetery or in a State veterans 
cemetery.

(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 2306)


Sec.  38.631  [Amended]

0
3. Amend Sec.  38.631 as follows:
0
a. In paragraphs (a), (c), (d), and (e), remove ``marker'' each place 
it appears and add, in its place, ``headstone or marker''.
0
b. In paragraph (f) remove ``markers'' and add, in its place, 
``headstones or markers''.
0
c. In paragraph (g) remove ``marker'' and add, in its place, 
``headstone or marker'' and remove ``December 31, 2006'' and add, in 
its place, ``December 31, 2007''.

(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 2306)

[FR Doc. E7-18503 Filed 9-18-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8320-01-P