Senate File 2333 - Enrolled

PAG LIN



  1  1                                         SENATE FILE 2333
  1  2
  1  3                             AN ACT
  1  4 RELATING TO THE REGULATION OF VETERANS COMMEMORATIVE PROPERTY.
  1  5
  1  6 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
  1  7
  1  8    Section 1.  Section 37A.1, Code 2007, is amended to read as
  1  9 follows:
  1 10    37A.1  VETERANS COMMEMORATIVE PROPERTY == PENALTY.
  1 11    1.  For purposes of this chapter, unless the context
  1 12 otherwise requires:
  1 13    a.  "Cemetery" means as defined in section 523I.102, but
  1 14 includes pioneer cemeteries.  "Cemetery" does not include
  1 15 religious cemeteries as defined in section 523I.102 that
  1 16 commenced business prior to July 1, 2005.
  1 17    b.  a.  "Department" means the Iowa department of veterans
  1 18 affairs.
  1 19    c.  b.  "Veteran" means a deceased person who served in the
  1 20 armed forces of the United States during a war in which the
  1 21 United States was engaged or served full=time in active duty
  1 22 in a force of an organized state militia, excluding service in
  1 23 the national guard when in an inactive status.
  1 24    d.  c.  "Veterans commemorative property" means any
  1 25 memorial as defined in section 523I.102, including a
  1 26 headstone, plaque, statue, urn, decoration, flag holder,
  1 27 badge, shield, item of memorabilia, or other embellishment,
  1 28 that meets all of the following criteria:
  1 29    (1)  Is over seventy=five years old.
  1 30    (2)  Identifies identifies or commemorates any veteran or
  1 31 group of veterans, including any veterans organization or any
  1 32 military unit, company, battalion, or division.
  1 33    (3)  Has been placed in a cemetery.
  1 34    e.  d.  "Veterans organization" means the grand army of the
  1 35 republic, sons of union veterans of the civil war, sons of
  2  1 confederate veterans, veterans of foreign wars, disabled
  2  2 American veterans, united Spanish war veterans, the Jewish war
  2  3 veterans of the United States, inc., the Catholic war
  2  4 veterans, inc., American legion, American veterans of World
  2  5 War II, Italian American war veterans of the United States,
  2  6 inc., or other corporation or association of veterans.
  2  7    2.  A person who owns or controls a cemetery property where
  2  8 any veterans commemorative property has been placed shall not
  2  9 sell, trade, or transfer any part of such veterans
  2 10 commemorative property unless the department authorizes the
  2 11 person to do so.  The department may authorize the sale,
  2 12 trade, or transfer based upon the following criteria:
  2 13    a.  The veterans commemorative property is at reasonable
  2 14 risk of physically deteriorating so that it will become
  2 15 unrecognizable as identifying or commemorating the veteran or
  2 16 group of veterans originally identified or commemorated.
  2 17    b.  The veterans commemorative property is proposed to be
  2 18 sold, traded, or transferred to a suitable person that will
  2 19 preserve the current condition of the veterans commemorative
  2 20 property and place it in a suitable place that will
  2 21 commemorate the veteran or group of veterans.
  2 22    c.  The person needs to sell, trade, or transfer the
  2 23 veterans commemorative property to ensure that sufficient
  2 24 funds are available to suitably maintain the cemetery where
  2 25 the veterans commemorative property is placed, and the
  2 26 specific lot, plot, grave, burial place, niche, crypt, or
  2 27 other place of interment of such veteran or group of veterans.
  2 28    d.  The veterans commemorative property that is to be sold,
  2 29 traded, or transferred will be replaced at its original site
  2 30 by a fitting replacement commemorative property, monument, or
  2 31 marker that appropriately identifies and commemorates the
  2 32 veteran or group of veterans.
  2 33    e.  If the person reasonably believes that the veterans
  2 34 commemorative property to be sold, traded, or transferred was
  2 35 donated by a veterans organization, the veterans organization
  3  1 consents to the sale, trade, or transfer of the veterans
  3  2 commemorative property.
  3  3    f.  If the person is not the owner of the veterans
  3  4 commemorative property that is to be sold, traded, or
  3  5 transferred, the person is authorized by the owner of such
  3  6 veterans commemorative property, or by operation of law other
  3  7 than this section, to sell, trade, or transfer the veterans
  3  8 commemorative property and to retain and use the proceeds of
  3  9 the sale, trade, or transfer.
  3 10    3.  A person who engages in the sale, trade, or transfer of
  3 11 veterans commemorative property without the authorization of
  3 12 the department pursuant to this section is guilty of a simple
  3 13 misdemeanor.
  3 14    4.  The department may adopt rules in accordance with
  3 15 chapter 17A to administer this chapter.
  3 16
  3 17
  3 18                                                             
  3 19                               JOHN P. KIBBIE
  3 20                               President of the Senate
  3 21
  3 22
  3 23                                                             
  3 24                               PATRICK J. MURPHY
  3 25                               Speaker of the House
  3 26
  3 27    I hereby certify that this bill originated in the Senate and
  3 28 is known as Senate File 2333, Eighty=second General Assembly.
  3 29
  3 30
  3 31                                                             
  3 32                               MICHAEL E. MARSHALL
  3 33                               Secretary of the Senate
  3 34 Approved                , 2008
  3 35
  4  1
  4  2                                
  4  3 CHESTER J. CULVER
  4  4 Governor