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Current Status Bill Number:View additional legislative information at the LPITS web site.3287 Ratification Number:69 Act Number:33 Type of Legislation:General Bill GB Introducing Body:House Introduced Date:20010118 Primary Sponsor:White All Sponsors:White, Barrett, J. Brown, Cato, Clyburn, Coates, Cobb-Hunter, Cooper, Harrell, Harrison, Hinson, Hosey, Kelley, Klauber, Martin, McCraw, Owens, Phillips, Rice, Robinson, Sharpe, Sinclair, Stille, Talley, Taylor, Thompson, Townsend, Trotter, Webb and Wilder Drafted Document Number:l:\council\bills\pt\1118dw01.doc Date Bill Passed both Bodies:20010515 Date of Last Amendment:20010418 Governor's Action:S Date of Governor's Action:20010529 Subject:Veterans' Cemeteries, State; Veterans Affairs Division to establish; Governor, Military Affairs, Adjutant General History Body Date Action Description Com Leg Involved ______ ________ ______________________________________ _______ ____________ ------ 20010611 Act No. A33 ------ 20010529 Signed by Governor ------ 20010523 Ratified R69 Senate 20010515 Read third time, enrolled for ratification Senate 20010514 Read second time Senate 20010509 Recalled from Committee, 08 SG placed on the second reading Calendar Senate 20010424 Introduced, read first time, 08 SG referred to Committee House 20010419 Read third time, sent to Senate House 20010418 Amended, read second time House 20010411 Committee report: Favorable with 27 H3M amendment House 20010118 Introduced, read first time, 27 H3M referred to Committee Versions of This Bill Revised on April 11, 2001 - Word format Revised on April 18, 2001 - Word format Revised on May 9, 2001 - Word format
(A33, R69, H3287)
AN ACT TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING SECTION 25-11-80 SO AS TO AUTHORIZE THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS TO ESTABLISH ONE OR MORE STATE VETERANS' CEMETERIES IN THE STATE, TO PROVIDE FOR THE MANNER IN WHICH THE CEMETERIES MUST BE ACQUIRED, MAINTAINED, AND OPERATED, AND TO ESTABLISH QUALIFICATIONS FOR VETERANS AND OTHERS FOR A PLOT IN A VETERANS' CEMETERY.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
State veterans' cemeteries may be established
SECTION 1. The 1976 Code is amended by adding:
"Section 25-11-80. (A) In this section:
(1) 'state veterans' cemetery' means a cemetery that the Division of Veterans Affairs establishes under this section; and
(2) 'immediate family' means those family members who are eligible for burial in a Department of Veterans Affairs national cemetery.
(B) The division may establish one or more cemeteries in the State for the burial of veterans and their immediate families.
(C) The division may accept land, in the name of the State, or otherwise acquire land for a state veterans' cemetery, if the division has the approval of:
(1) the governing body of the county where the state veterans' cemetery is to be located;
(2) the delegation in the General Assembly for the county where the state veterans' cemetery is to be located; and
(3) the Budget and Control Board.
(D) The division shall maintain and supervise each state veterans' cemetery.
(E)(1) Subject to the limitations in this section, the division shall provide a plot in a state veterans' cemetery, without charge, to an applicant who meets the requirements of this section.
(2) In the order in which the division receives the applications for plots, the division shall allot a plot in the state veterans' cemetery that is closest to the residence of the veteran and has an available plot.
(F)(1) To qualify for a plot in a state veterans' cemetery, the applicant must be a veteran or a member of the immediate family of a veteran who meets the requirements of this subsection.
(2) The veteran must have an honorable discharge from the Armed Forces.
(3) The veteran must have been a resident of the State:
(a) when the veteran entered the Armed Forces;
(b) when the veteran died; or
(c) for twenty years, unless for a reason that the division finds compelling, the division waives the time period.
(G) To obtain a plot in a state veterans' cemetery, an applicant shall submit to the division an application on the form that the division provides.
(H) In a plot that is allotted to a veteran, the division shall bury:
(1) the veteran; and
(2) any member of the immediate family of the veteran if the family member can be buried in a space above or below the veteran.
(I)(1) The division shall bury the veteran without charge.
(2) For burial of a member of the immediate family, the division may:
(a) set a fee that does not exceed the cost of burial; or
(b) accept, from the social security burial allowance, an amount that does not exceed the cost of the burial.
(J) The division shall keep a registry of the graves of veterans who are buried in the state veterans' cemeteries."
Time effective
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.
Ratified the 23rd day of May, 2001.
Approved the 29th day of May, 2001.
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