ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Phoenix, Arizona
The board of supervisors of the county of residence of a deceased person is responsible for the burial of indigent persons, including indigent veterans. Statute limits the expense of the burial of indigent veterans to no more than $150, which is charged to the county where the indigent resided.
According to statute, a veteran is a citizen of the United States who was regularly enlisted, drafted, inducted or commissioned and who was accepted for and assigned to active duty in the U.S. armed forces. Types of military discharges include honorable, medical, general (under honorable conditions), uncharacterized (entry level separation) and dishonorable. A veteran must have been discharged or separated from active duty under conditions other than dishonorable and have completed the required period of service to be eligible for burial in a national cemetery. This legislation provides for the burial of honorably discharged military veterans.
Burial expenses at a national cemetery include the gravesite, a headstone or marker, the opening and closing of the grave, an American flag to drape the casket and perpetual care. The headstones or markers are inscribed with the name of the deceased, branch of service and the years of birth and death.
A fiscal note has been
requested for this bill.
1. Repeals the county’s responsibility for burial of indigent veterans and the responsibility for reporting on the financial condition of the veteran’s family for purposes of determining financial responsibility.
2. Requires ADVS to provide for the burial of an honorably discharged indigent veteran without cost at the nearest national cemetery and the veteran's spouse at the cemetery nearest to their residence, in a portion of the cemetery other than the portion designated for indigents who are not veterans.
3. Requires the veteran to be a resident of this State at the time of death and be without the means to provide for burial expenses or whose burial expenses are not provided by other government sources, including Social Security.
4. Requires ADVS to conduct a military service if the deceased veteran was a resident of the State for at least three years, and requires ADVS to apply to the U.S. government for a headstone or marking to be placed at the veteran’s burial site.
5. Requires ADVS to keep records of the deceased that includes the name, rank, occupation, and command of deceased, the date of death, place of burial and an expense report of the burial.
6. Requires ADVS to determine the indigency of the veteran based on the resources, estate and immediate family of the deceased.
7. Requires the Director to determine the reasonable cost of an indigent burial, and requires that the indigent burial not exceed that cost.
8. Makes technical changes.
9. Provides for a general effective date.
Prepared by Senate Staff
February 7, 2002