# Plain Language Summary: Burial Equity for Guards and Reserves Act of 2021

Right now, there's an unfair gap in how the military treats people when they die. Active duty service members who pass away can be buried in national cemeteries run by the federal government. But members of the National Guard, Reserve forces, and ROTC cadets often can't access these same burial benefits, even though they served their country honorably. This bill fixes that problem by making sure states can bury these service members in state-run veterans' cemeteries without the federal government blocking them.

The core issue is that when the federal government gives money to states to build and maintain veterans' cemeteries, it sometimes comes with strings attached—conditions that say states can't bury certain people, like Guard and Reserve members. This bill says the federal government can't do that anymore. States that receive federal funding for their veterans' cemeteries will now be allowed to bury honorably discharged members of the National Guard, Army and Air Force Reserve, and ROTC members who died while serving. The bill also extends this to their spouses and children, so families aren't separated in death.

Additionally, the bill prevents the federal government from punishing states that want to expand or improve their cemeteries specifically to accommodate these service members. States won't lose federal funding just because they're trying to give Guard and Reserve members the burial honors they've earned. For families of these service members, this means their loved ones can finally receive the same dignified burial that active duty veterans get—in a proper military cemetery rather than being turned away because of a technicality about their service status.

Burial Equity for Guards and Reserves Act of 2021

Pappas, Chris

Burial Equity for Guards and Reserves Act of 2021 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 their spouses and children) 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 <ul> <li>member of a reserve component whose service was terminated under honorable conditions;</li> <li>member of the Army National Guard or Air National Guard whose service was terminated under honorable conditions;</li> <li>member of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps of the Army, Navy, or Air Force who died under honorable conditions while a member; and</li> <li>spouse, minor child, or unmarried adult child of any member described above.</li> </ul> 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 individuals; and (2) enforcing certain conditions on grants for state veterans' cemeteries that were established before the date of enactment of this bill. The bill also provides for plot allowances for the individuals listed in the bill.