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| [ Engrossed ] | [ House Amendment 001 ] |
91_HB4340
LRB9111891STsbA
1 AN ACT concerning military funeral honors.
2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3 represented in the General Assembly:
4 Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
5 Military Funeral Honors Act.
6 Section 5. Purpose. This Act establishes procedures to
7 provide military funeral honors for military members and
8 veterans residing in the State of Illinois.
9 Section 10. Definition. In this Act, unless the context
10 indicates otherwise, "veteran" means an individual who served
11 honorably for at least 6 months on active service, whether
12 during peacetime or wartime, in the armed forces of the
13 United States. The term does not include persons who receive
14 military funeral honors from the federal government.
15 Section 15. Conduct of services. Conduct of military
16 honor detail services shall be in accordance with rules
17 adopted by the Adjutant General.
18 Section 20. Honor detail. The Adjutant General shall,
19 subject to appropriations, provide a uniformed honor detail
20 to attend and render the appropriate honors for deceased
21 veterans who served honorably in the armed forces of the
22 United States.
23 Section 25. Duties of the Adjutant General.
24 (a) The Adjutant General shall be responsible for the
25 overall program direction and coordination of the Military
26 Honor Program. The Adjutant General shall:
27 (1) establish regions within the State to support
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1 requests for military funeral honor support to veterans;
2 and
3 (2) develop and maintain policies, procedures, and
4 standing operation procedures for military funeral honor
5 detail performance.
6 (b) The Adjutant General shall receive and coordinate all
7 requests for military funeral honor support from funeral
8 directors, family members, or other authorized sources.
9 (c) The Adjutant General shall (i) be responsible for
10 training and certification of the Illinois military funeral
11 honor detail personnel, including veterans' organizations,
12 (ii) be responsible to coordinate and furnish training to
13 veterans' organizations and Illinois National Guard
14 personnel, and (iii) provide training for recognized
15 veterans' organizations when requested to do so and when
16 resources are available.
17 (d) The Adjutant General may hire staff to perform the
18 duties described in subsections (a), (b), and (c).
19 Section 30. Coordination of requests. Requests for
20 military funeral honors shall be coordinated with active duty
21 service components, recognized veterans' organizations, and
22 Illinois National Guard units and organizations. The
23 Adjutant General shall coordinate support requirements with
24 active component and veterans' organizations prior to
25 committing Illinois National Guard resources.
26 Section 35. Limitations of support. Military funeral
27 honor detail support shall be provided only within the
28 geographic boundaries of the State of Illinois unless special
29 consideration has been requested and approved by the Adjutant
30 General.
31 Section 40. Reimbursement. Reimbursement at levels
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1 established by the Adjutant General to certified veterans'
2 organizations for providing military honor services, subject
3 to the availability of funds, is authorized when approved by
4 the Adjutant General. Reimbursement is not authorized to
5 veterans' organizations for military funeral detail
6 performance unless the organization meets the requirements
7 for a recognized veterans' organization, the organization has
8 been certified by the Adjutant General to perform honor
9 detail services, and the military funeral detail has received
10 prior authorization from an Office of the Adjutant General
11 Military Honor Program official.
12 Section 45. Availability. Military funeral honor
13 details shall be available 7 days per week subject to
14 availability of resources. Details shall be prioritized to
15 ensure the most efficient use of military funeral honor
16 detail personnel.
17 Section 50. Priority. Medal of Honor recipients and
18 former prisoners of war shall be given detail priority when
19 all other means of providing military funeral honor support
20 are not available.
21 Section 55. Who may request services. Military honor
22 funeral detail services may be requested by the commander of
23 any recognized veterans' organization, military commander, a
24 friend or relative of a deceased person, or the director of a
25 funeral home. To request military honor detail services, a
26 family member or interested party of the deceased shall
27 contact the funeral home director servicing the deceased
28 veteran or, if this person is not known, contact the Office
29 of the Adjutant General.
30 Section 60. Concept of operations.
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1 (a) Active service members and those eligible for or
2 receiving retired pay shall be eligible for the federal
3 benefit of a military honor detail provided by active
4 component installations. Any request received shall be
5 coordinated with the active component installation to ensure
6 that benefits that are due to the surviving spouse or family
7 members are provided. Normally, these benefits shall be
8 provided by the funeral home director; however, coordination
9 may be required to ensure support is available and will be
10 provided. For all other veterans, the State of Illinois
11 shall be divided into areas of responsibility. Overall
12 program supervision shall be by the Adjutant General.
13 (b) Military funeral honor support within each area of
14 operation shall be provided as follows:
15 (1) The Adjutant General shall receive requests for
16 military funeral honors and shall contact local certified
17 veterans' organization military honor teams for support.
18 When there are no veterans' organization teams available,
19 the Adjutant General shall coordinate the mission using
20 members of the Illinois Military Funeral Honor Detail
21 teams, augmented with traditional members of the Illinois
22 National Guard.
23 (2) The Adjutant General shall determine team
24 availability and coordinate with the funeral home
25 director on details concerning the missions. Unless for
26 good cause or reason, the Adjutant General shall not
27 refuse or deny military funeral honor support to eligible
28 veterans. If the request cannot be fulfilled, the
29 Adjutant General shall contact the funeral home director
30 or family member and inform that person that support is
31 unavailable and why. The Adjutant General shall maintain
32 a master log of all requests and dispositions.