republic-os/legislation/us/states/va/2024/sb-281.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	Family cemeteries; interment rights, proof of kinship.	Family cemeteries; interment rights; proof of kinship. Allows a family member or descendant, as defined in the bill, of a deceased person buried in a family cemetery, also defined in the bill, that is located on private property to petition the circuit court of the county or city where the property is located for interment rights upon such property. The bill provides that such family member or descendant may prove kinship to the court through official documentation or nonofficial documentation, such as obituaries, family Bibles or other documents with family signatures, journals or letters of the deceased person interred on the private property, family photographs, or other documentation deemed by the court to be reliable.	us/states/va	Virginia General Assembly	2024	SB 281	Virginia SB 281 (2024)	bill		enacted	Danica A. Roem	4	31	7	2024-01-09	2024-04-08	openstates	ocd-bill/1a5adf5c-1b51-49a8-b036-c3b7e1e29259	https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+sum+SB281	5617fab5324f2a4b4e150aefca5a0ba519f515c772f86087066b4db68b723d87	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-va

Virginia SB 281 (2024) — Family cemeteries; interment rights, proof of kinship.

Family cemeteries; interment rights; proof of kinship. Allows a family member or descendant, as defined in the bill, of a deceased person buried in a family cemetery, also defined in the bill, that is located on private property to petition the circuit court of the county or city where the property is located for interment rights upon such property. The bill provides that such family member or descendant may prove kinship to the court through official documentation or nonofficial documentation, such as obituaries, family Bibles or other documents with family signatures, journals or letters of the deceased person interred on the private property, family photographs, or other documentation deemed by the court to be reliable.

Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. CHAP0767 (committee substitute) — source
2. Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/24 24104351D (committee substitute) — source
3. Printed as engrossed 24104351D-E (committee substitute) — source
4. SB281ER (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• VOTE: Passage (65-Y 31-N) — 64–31 (pass) · lower
• Referred from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources — 0–0 (fail) · lower
• Constitutional reading dispensed (37-Y 0-N) — 37–0 (pass) · upper
• Reported from General Laws and Technology with amendment (15-Y 0-N) — 15–0 (pass) · upper
• Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N) — 8–0 (pass) · lower
• Reported from General Laws (20-Y 2-N) — 20–2 (pass) · lower
• Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — 40–0 (pass) · upper

Sponsors

• Danica A. Roem — primary (person)

Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

• 2024-01-09 Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/24 24104351D filing, introduction
• 2024-01-09 Referred to Committee on General Laws and Technology referral-committee
• 2024-01-24 Senate committee, floor amendments and substitutes offered
• 2024-01-24 Reported from General Laws and Technology with amendment (15-Y 0-N) committee-passage
• 2024-01-26 Constitutional reading dispensed (37-Y 0-N)
• 2024-01-29 Read second time reading-2
• 2024-01-29 Reading of amendment waived
• 2024-01-29 Committee amendment agreed to amendment-passage
• 2024-01-29 Engrossed by Senate as amended SB281E
• 2024-01-29 Printed as engrossed 24104351D-E
• 2024-01-30 Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) passage, reading-3
• 2024-02-13 Placed on Calendar
• 2024-02-13 Read first time reading-1
• 2024-02-13 Referred to Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources referral-committee
• 2024-02-21 Referred from Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources referral-committee
• 2024-02-21 Referred to Committee on General Laws referral-committee
• 2024-02-21 Assigned GL sub: Housing/Consumer Protection referral-committee
• 2024-02-22 Subcommittee recommends reporting (8-Y 0-N)
• 2024-02-27 Reported from General Laws (20-Y 2-N) committee-passage
• 2024-02-29 Read second time reading-2
• 2024-03-01 Read third time reading-3
• 2024-03-01 Passed House (65-Y 31-N) passage
• 2024-03-01 VOTE: Passage (65-Y 31-N) passage
• 2024-03-06 Enrolled enrolled
• 2024-03-06 Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB281ER) passage
• 2024-03-06 Signed by Speaker passage
• 2024-03-07 Signed by President passage
• 2024-03-11 Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 11, 2024 enrolled
• 2024-03-11 Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 8, 2024 executive-receipt
• 2024-04-08 Approved by Governor-Chapter 767 (effective 7/1/24) executive-signature
• 2024-04-08 Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0767)

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/1a5adf5c-1b51-49a8-b036-c3b7e1e29259. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).