CONNERS AND MILAM PUSH BILL TO ENSURE FALLEN NEW JERSEY VETERANS ARE TREATED WITH DIGNITY

CONNERS AND MILAM PUSH BILL TO ENSURE FALLEN NEW JERSEY VETERANS ARE TREATED WITH DIGNITY

(TRENTON) - Assemblymen Jack Conners and Matthew Milam are sponsoring legislation to ensure every deceased New Jersey veteran is treated with dignity by giving veterans' organizations the right to receive the cremains of a veteran that go unclaimed for a year.

The lawmakers said the law would make it easier for veterans' organizations to provide proper, expedited burials befitting the servicemen and women who served this nation and this state during times of both peace and war.

"It's particularly important that we do all we can to ensure that fallen servicemen and women are honorably received," said Conners (D-Burlington), chairman of the Assembly Veterans and Military Affairs Committee.  "Ensuring that someone is available to take care of the cremains of every deceased New Jersey veteran is the least we can do to ensure a proper farewell for all service members who have sacrificed so much for our country."

The measure (A-2613) would require veterans organizations to certify to the satisfaction of the Commissioner of Health and Senior Services that a diligent effort was made to identify, locate and notify a relative or friend of the deceased within that one-year period.

The cremains would have to either be scattered at sea or disposed of in a dignified manner at the Brigadier General William C. Doyle Memorial Cemetery.

"We have an obligation to ensure that the brave men and women who have donned a uniform to protect the freedoms of our nation are treated with every ounce of dignity and respect we can muster," said Milam (D-Cumberland/Atlantic/Cape May).  "By ensuring veterans' organizations can claim the cremains of New Jersey's fallen heroes we can guarantee that their memory and service will always be honored."

Only Veterans' organizations that qualify as either 501(c) 19 or 501(c) 3 exempt or federally chartered veterans service organizations would be eligible to receive cremains.       

The measure passed the Assembly 78-0 on Sept. 25. It now heads to the Senate for further consideration.   

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