California Cemeteries for Veterans

California law provides for three primary veterans’ cemeteries in the Military and Veterans Code, Division 6. Chapter 9 deals with the Northern California Veterans Cemetery.

Section 1400 required 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, to design, develop, and construct a state-owned and state-operated Northern California Veterans Cemetery which is located in northern California.

In addition, those eligible for interment in the cemetery are all honorably discharged veterans and their spouses and children. A fee of $500 is charged for each spouse or child interred in the cemetery.

Section 1401 authorizes the Shasta County Board of Supervisors to join with other northern California counties including, but not limited to, the Counties of Colusa, Del Norte, Glenn, Humboldt, Lassen, Mendocino, Modoc, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity, to design, develop, and construct the cemetery.

Section 1402 provides that proposals for the construction, placement, or donation of monuments and memorials to the cemetery are to be subject to review by an advisory committee comprised of the cemetery administrator, representatives from the County of Shasta, local veterans’ service organizations, and others as approved by the director.

Section 1403 authorizes the cemetery administrator, subject to the approval of the director, to accept donations of personal property, including cash or other gifts, to be used for the maintenance or beautification of the cemetery. Cash donations must be deposited into the Northern California Veterans Cemetery Perpetual Maintenance Fund and be expended for the maintenance and repair of the facility.

Chapter 9.5 deals with the Southern California Veterans Cemetery. Section 1410 required the DVA, in voluntary cooperation with local government entities in the County of Orange, to acquire, design, develop, construct, and equip a state-owned and state-operated Southern California Veterans Cemetery, which is located in the County of Orange.

In addition, honorably discharged veterans and their spouses and eligible dependent children are eligible for interment in the cemetery. The department established a fee to be charged for interment of veteran spouses and eligible dependent children.

Section 1412 allows all local government entities in the County of Orange to join together for the purpose of cooperating with the department in the design, development, construction, and equipment of the cemetery.

Section 1414 provides that proposals for the construction, placement, or donation of monuments and memorials to the cemetery are subject to review by an advisory committee comprised of the cemetery administrator, representatives from local government entities within Orange County, local veterans’ service organizations, and others as approved by the secretary.

Section 1416 authorizes the cemetery administrator, subject to the approval of the secretary, to accept donations of personal property, including cash or other gifts, to be used for the preliminary or conceptual design, construction, maintenance, beautification, and repair of the cemetery, or to reimburse the state for expenditures made by the state for these purposes.

Section 1418 authorizes the DVA to adopt regulations pursuant to the APA.

Chapter 10 deals with the Central Coast Veterans Cemetery. Section 1450 defines the following terms: “department,” “endowment fund,” “nonreimbursable costs of design and construction,” “operations and maintenance costs,” “operations fund,” “phases,” and “veterans cemetery.”

Section 1450.1 states that the department, in voluntary cooperation with the Board of Supervisors of the County of Monterey, the City of Seaside, the Fort Ord Reuse Authority, and surrounding counties, cities, and local agencies, is required to design, develop, and construct the state-owned and state-operated veterans cemetery, which is located on the site of the former Fort Ord.

Section 1450.2 requires the Secretary of the California Department of Veterans Affairs to establish the California Central Coast Veterans Cemetery Advisory Committee that consists of the specified persons appointed by the secretary.

Section 1451 created the California Central Coast State Veterans Cemetery at Fort Ord Endowment Fund in the State Treasury. Moneys in the Endowment Fund are allocated, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the department for the nonreimbursable costs of design and construction and the annual operations and maintenance costs of the veterans’ cemetery.

Section 1453 requires the Controller, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to transfer moneys from the Endowment Fund to the Operations Fund in an amount equal to the estimated costs of developing and submitting a State Veterans Cemetery Grant Program application to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.

Section 1454 renamed the Central Coast Veterans Cemetery Master Development Fund as the California Central Coast State Veterans Cemetery at Fort Ord Operations Fund. Moneys in the Operations Fund may be transferred, upon appropriation by the Legislature, from the Endowment Fund to the Operations Fund for expenditure by the department, solely for the annual operations and maintenance costs of the veterans’ cemetery.

Section 1455 required the department to adopt regulations to specify the eligibility requirements for interment, the appropriate fees to be charged for interment or burial of spouses and dependent children of honorably discharged veterans, and appropriate fees for the disinterment of remains. Those eligible for interment are all honorably discharged veterans and their spouses and dependent children.

Section 1456 requires proposals for the construction, placement, or donation of monuments or memorials, excluding headstones, and other amenities to the veterans’ cemetery to be subject to review by the California Central Coast Veterans Cemetery Advisory Committee.

Section 1457 allows the veterans cemetery administrator to, subject to the approval of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, accept donations of personal property, including cash or other gifts, to be used for the maintenance or beautification of the veterans’ cemetery.