A package of bills by state Rep. Jim Christiana aimed to ensure the appropriate care of Pennsylvania veterans’ graves will be rolled into a sweeping Senate bill reforming the County Code, he said Wednesday.
The move comes a day after four bills introduced by Christiana unanimously passed the House Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee to advance to the House floor.
“Our U.S. military personnel deserve the utmost respect, and that reverence should follow them to the grave,” Christiana, R-15, Brighton Township, said in a statement Tuesday. “These men and women are willing to sacrifice their lives for us, so the least we can do for them and for their families is ensure the proper maintenance of their final resting places.”
Christiana said families have told him about cases of “total disregard” for veterans’ graves.
Counties are required to provide flags and markers for the graves of honorably discharged veterans, and the flags are supposed to remain up from Memorial Day to July 4.
Now, the language in those bills, which, among other things, would require cemeteries to remove torn and weathered flags after July 4 and allow families to keep them if they wish, will be folded into the larger Senate Bill 1005.
In his statement, Christiana said the language from his bills would also “allow for greater communication between cemeteries, local veterans organizations and county commissioners, who are currently required to provide the flags.”