HB809: Historical African American cemeteries and graves; Isle of Wight, Prince George, and Surry Counties.

HOUSE BILL NO. 809

Offered January 12, 2022
Prefiled January 12, 2022
A BILL to amend and reenact § 10.1-2211.2 of the Code of Virginia, relating to historical African American cemeteries and graves; Isle of Wight, Prince George, and Surry Counties.
Patron-- Price

Committee Referral Pending

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 10.1-2211.2 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 10.1-2211.2. Disbursement of funds appropriated for caring for historical African American cemeteries and graves.

A. For purposes of this section:

"Fund" means the Historical African American Cemeteries and Graves Fund created pursuant to § 10.1-2211.3.

"Historical African American cemetery" means a cemetery that was established prior to January 1, 1900, for interments of African Americans.

"Qualified organization" means a charitable corporation, charitable association, or charitable trust that has been granted tax-exempt status under § 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and whose primary purpose is the preservation of historical cemeteries and graves or any person or locality that owns a historical African American cemetery.

B. At the direction of the Director, the Comptroller of the Commonwealth shall draw an annual warrant upon the State Treasurer from any sum that may be provided to the Department in the general appropriation act for the purpose of maintaining qualifying cemeteries and graves pursuant to this section. Any representative of a qualified organization desiring to receive funding from such appropriation for the maintenance of qualifying cemeteries and graves pursuant to this section shall submit an application to the Department on or before May 30 each year. Such appropriations shall be allocated on the basis of the number of graves, monuments, and markers in a cemetery of African Americans who lived at any time between January 1, 1800, and January 1, 1900, the dates to be determined by reference to grave markers or, at the discretion of the Director, other historical records. Such number of graves, monuments, and markers, as documented by the qualified organization, shall be multiplied by the rate of $5 or the average actual cost of routine maintenance of a grave, monument, or marker, whichever is greater, to determine the amount of the allocation. The Department shall determine the average actual cost of routine maintenance of a grave, monument, or marker in a biennial survey of at least four properly maintained cemeteries, each located in a different geographical region of the Commonwealth. The Director shall deposit any appropriated funds that are not disbursed during the same fiscal year into the Fund.

IN THE COUNTY OF:

NUMBER:

Arlington

 

Calloway Cemetery

29

Lomax Cemetery

66

Mount Salvation Cemetery

29

Buckingham

 

Stanton Family Cemetery

36

Henrico

 

East End Cemetery

4,875

Isle of Wight

 

Emmanuel Baptist Church Cemetery

50

First Gravel Hill Baptist Church Cemetery

100

Mount Sinai Baptist Church Cemetery

50

Tynes Family Cemetery

100

Loudoun

 

African-American Burial Ground for the Enslaved at Belmont

44

Mt. Zion Old School Baptist Church Cemetery

33

Montgomery

 

Wake Forest Cemetery

40

Westview Cemetery

47

Prince George County

 

Morning Star Baptist Church Cemetery

80

Pulaski

 

New River Cemetery

33

West Dublin Cemetery

44

Surry

 

Abundant Life Outreach Center Cemetery

80

Claremont Cemetery

100

Hickory Grove Memorial Cemetery

20

Johnson Family Cemetery

5

Mount Ray Cemetery

100

Old Brick Church Cemetery

20

Swann's Point Baptist Church Cemetery

50

Union Baptist Church Spring Grove Cemetery

50

IN THE CITY OF:

 

Alexandria

 

Baptist Cemetery of the African American Heritage Park

28

Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery

631

Douglass Cemetery

83

Lebanon Union Cemetery

53

Methodist Protestant Cemetery

1,134

Penny Hill Cemetery

14

Charlottesville

 

Daughters of Zion Cemetery

192

Chesapeake

 

Cuffeytown Cemetery

52

Hampton

 

Bassette's Cemetery

212

Elmerton Cemetery

339

Good Samaritan Cemetery

37

Pleasant Shade Cemetery

29

Queen Street Cemetery

14

Tucker Family Cemetery

15

Union Street Cemetery

125

Harrisonburg

 

Newtown Cemetery

400

Martinsville

 

Matthews Cemetery

8

The People's Cemetery

178

Smith Street Cemetery

9

Portsmouth

 

Mt. Calvary Cemetery

266

Radford

 

Mountain View Cemetery

91

Richmond

 

Evergreen Cemetery

2,100

Suffolk

 

Oak Lawn Cemetery

468

C. In addition to any sum provided to a qualified organization as set forth in subsection B, the Director may disburse funds to any qualified organization to fund maintenance and care of additional historical African American graves in the Commonwealth that have been certified by the Department and documented in the Department's cultural resources database. Funds disbursed under this subsection shall be disbursed at the rate set forth in subsection B.

D. A qualified organization receiving funds shall expend the funds for the routine maintenance of its historical African American cemetery, associated graves, and graves certified by the Department and documented in the Department's cultural resources database and the erection of and caring for markers, memorials, and monuments to the memory of such African Americans.

E. Each qualified organization, through its proper officer, shall after July 1 of each year submit to the Director a certified statement that the funds appropriated to the organization during the preceding fiscal year were or will be expended for the purposes set forth in subsection D. No organization that fails to comply with any of the requirements of this section shall receive moneys allocated under this section for any subsequent fiscal year until the organization fully complies with the requirements.

F. In addition to funds that may be provided pursuant to subsection B or C, any organization that receives funds pursuant to subsection B or C may apply to the Director for a grant to perform extraordinary maintenance, renovation, repair, or reconstruction of any of its historical African American cemeteries and graves. Such a grant shall be made from any appropriation made available by the General Assembly for such purpose or from the Fund.

G. Any locality may receive and hold funds drawn pursuant to subsection B or C on behalf of any qualified organization until such time as the organization is able to receive or utilize such funds. No local matching funds shall be required for any grants made pursuant to this section.

H. The owner of a historical African American cemetery shall reasonably cooperate with a qualified organization that receives funds pursuant to subsection B or C.

2. That the Department of Historic Resources, in consultation with the relevant qualified organizations, shall verify the number of graves, monuments, and markers in the Isle of Wight County, Prince George County, and Surry County cemeteries added to the list of African American cemeteries and graves pursuant to subsection B of § 10.1-2211.2 of the Code Virginia, as amended by this act.