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

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Family cemeteries; interment rights, proof of kinship."
description: "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."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2024"
identifier: "SB 281"
citation: "Virginia SB 281 (2024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Danica A. Roem"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 31
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2024-01-09"
last_action: "2024-04-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/1a5adf5c-1b51-49a8-b036-c3b7e1e29259"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+sum+SB281"
source_hash: "5617fab5324f2a4b4e150aefca5a0ba519f515c772f86087066b4db68b723d87"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["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](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+CHAP0767)
2. **Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/10/24 24104351D** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB281)
3. **Printed as engrossed 24104351D-E** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB281E)
4. **SB281ER** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?241+ful+SB281ER)

## 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](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/1a5adf5c-1b51-49a8-b036-c3b7e1e29259`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).