§ 10.1-2211. Disbursement of funds appropriated for caring for Confederate cemeteries and graves

A. At the direction of the Director, the Comptroller of the Commonwealth is instructed and empowered to draw annual warrants upon the State Treasurer from any sums that may be provided in the general appropriation act, in favor of the treasurers of the Confederate memorial associations and chapters of the United Daughters of the Confederacy set forth in subsection B of this section. Such sums shall be expended by the associations and organizations for the routine maintenance of their respective Confederate cemeteries and graves and for the graves of Confederate soldiers and sailors not otherwise cared for in other cemeteries, and in erecting and caring for markers, memorials, and monuments to the memory of such soldiers and sailors. All such associations and organizations, through their proper officers, are required after July 1 of each year to submit to the Director a certified statement that the funds appropriated to the association or organization in the preceding fiscal year were or will be expended for the routine maintenance of cemeteries specified in this section and the graves of Confederate soldiers and sailors and in erecting and caring for markers, memorials and monuments to the memory of such soldiers and sailors. An association or organization failing to comply with any of the requirements of this section shall be prohibited from receiving moneys allocated under this section for all subsequent fiscal years until the association or organization fully complies with the requirements.

B. Allocation of appropriations made pursuant to this section shall be based on the number of graves, monuments and markers as set forth opposite the association’s or organization’s name, or as documented by each association or organization multiplied by the rate of $5 or the average actual cost of routine maintenance, whichever is greater, for each grave, monument or marker in the care of a Confederate memorial association or chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. For the purposes of this section the “average actual cost of care” shall be determined by the Department in a biennial survey of at least four properly maintained cemeteries, each located in a different geographical region of the Commonwealth.

C. In addition to funds that may be provided pursuant to subsection B, any of the Confederate memorial associations and chapters of the United Daughters of the Confederacy set forth in subsection B may apply to the Director for grants to perform extraordinary maintenance, renovation, repair or reconstruction of any of their respective Confederate cemeteries and graves and for the graves of Confederate soldiers and sailors. These grants shall be made from any appropriation made available by the General Assembly for such purpose. In making such grants, the Director shall give full consideration to the assistance available from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, or other agencies, except in those instances where such assistance is deemed by the Director to be detrimental to the historical, artistic or architectural significance of the site.

D. Local matching funds shall not be required for grants made pursuant to this section.

Code 1950, § 2.1-206.1; 1977, c. 242; 1978, c. 726; 1979, cc. 19, 151; 1980, c. 672; 1981, c. 537, § 10.145.11; 1984, cc. 412, 750; 1985, cc. 263, 267; 1986, cc. 120, 385; 1988, cc. 310, 891, § 10.1-812; 1989, cc. 656, 711; 1992, c. 640; 1994, c. 78; 1995, c. 176; 1997, cc. 72, 255, 270, 811; 1998, c. 233; 1999, c. 473; 2000, c. 114; 2001, cc. 267, 279, 284; 2002, cc. 181, 188, 225; 2003, c. 585; 2006, cc. 489, 630; 2009, c. 53; 2011, cc. 543, 603; 2012, c. 534; 2013, c. 42; 2014, cc. 15, 46, 110; 2016, c. 43.