Burial Equity for Guards and Reserves Act

Burial Equity for Guards and Reserves Act

This bill prohibits the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) from establishing a condition for a cemetery grant that restricts the ability of a state to inter certain reservists (or spouses) at a state-owned veterans' cemetery solely because such individuals are ineligible for burial in an open national cemetery.

Specifically, as a condition for grants, the VA cannot restrict the ability of a state to inter a

• member of a reserve component whose service was terminated under honorable conditions;
• member of the Army National Guard or Air National Guard whose service was terminated under honorable conditions;
• member of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps of the Army, Navy, or Air Force who died under honorable conditions while a member; and
• spouse of any member described above.

The VA is prohibited from (1) denying an application for a grant solely on the basis that the recipient state may use funds to expand, improve, operate, or maintain a veterans' cemetery to allow for the internment of the specified reservists; and (2) enforcing certain conditions on grants for state veterans' cemeteries that were established before the date of enactment of this bill.