Senate Bill No. 111

(By Senators Redd, Ball, Edgell, Fanning, Unger, Mitchell, Hunter, Dawson and Snyder)

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[Introduced January 17, 2000; referred to the Committee on Military; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend article five, chapter thirty-five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section nine, relating to cemeteries; prohibiting any cemetery from charging more than two hundred fifty dollars to set a United States veterans' affairs grave marker; and requiring cemeteries to set the markers.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article five, chapter thirty-five of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section nine, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. CEMETERIES.
§35-5-9. Charges for setting United States veterans' affairs grave markers.
No public or private cemetery may deny a request to set a United States department of veterans' affairs grave marker at the grave of a deceased United States armed forces veteran. The cemetery may not charge more than two hundred fifty dollars for setting the marker, except that the cemetery may charge a reasonable additional fee for installation off the premises. The fee may be periodically adjusted to meet cost-of-living increases at the discretion of the director of the state division of veterans' affairs.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to prohibit public and private cemeteries from charging more than two hundred fifty dollars for setting a United States department of veterans' affairs grave marker at the grave of a deceased United States armed forces veteran within the cemetery.

This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.