BILL NUMBER: SB 469	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Aanestad

                        FEBRUARY 26, 2009

   An act to amend Section 1400 of the Military and Veterans Code,
relating to veterans.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 469, as introduced, Aanestad. Northern California Veterans
Cemetery: fees.
   Existing law requires the Department of Veterans Affairs, in
voluntary cooperation with the Shasta County Board of Supervisors and
the boards of supervisors of other participating northern California
counties, as specified, to design, develop, and construct a
state-owned and state-operated Northern California Veterans Cemetery
located in Northern California. Existing law authorizes honorably
discharged veterans and their spouses and children to be interred at
the cemetery, and requires a fee of $500 to be charged for each
spouse or child interred at the cemetery.
   This bill would authorize the fee for the interment of the spouses
and children of honorably discharged veterans to be waived if the
cemetery administrator determines that the families of the spouses or
children do not have sufficient means to pay for the costs of
interment, and would require any costs for these interments to be
paid from nonstate funds. This bill would require the cemetery
administrator to seek reimbursements, as specified, and would
authorize the cemetery administrator to solicit private donations, to
offset any fees lost as a result of this fee waiver.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 1400 of the Military and Veterans Code is
amended to read:
   1400.  (a) (1) The Department of Veterans Affairs, in voluntary
cooperation with the Shasta County Board of Supervisors and the
boards of supervisors of other participating northern California
counties as specified in Section 1401, shall design, develop, and
construct a state-owned and state-operated Northern California
Veterans Cemetery  which   that  shall be
located in northern California.
   (2) The department shall oversee and coordinate the design,
development, and construction of the cemetery.
   (b) (1) Those eligible for interment in the cemetery are all
honorably discharged veterans and their spouses and children. A fee
of five hundred dollars ($500) shall be charged for each spouse or
child interred in the cemetery.
   (2) For  the  purposes of this subdivision, the
department shall adopt regulations to specify the eligibility
requirements for interment in the cemetery.
   (3) All fees received pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be deposited
in the Northern California Veterans Cemetery Perpetual Maintenance
Fund created pursuant to Section 1401. 
   (c) (1) Notwithstanding paragraph (1) of subdivision (b), the fee
for the interment of the spouses or children of eligible veterans may
be waived if the cemetery administrator determines that the families
of the spouses or children do not have sufficient means to pay for
the costs of interment.  
   (2) Any costs for the interment of the spouses or children of
eligible veterans who received a waiver pursuant to paragraph (1)
shall be paid from nonstate funds.  
   (3) The cemetery administrator shall seek reimbursements, if any
are available, from federal, county, and other local agencies to
offset any fees lost as a result of the waiver authorized pursuant to
paragraph (1).  
   (4) The cemetery administrator may solicit private donations to
offset any fees lost as a result of the waiver authorized pursuant to
paragraph (1).  
   (5) Any moneys received pursuant to this subdivision to offset
fees shall be deposited in the Northern California Veterans Cemetery
Perpetual Maintenance Fund, in addition to the fees that are required
to be deposited pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (b).