One cemetery at Boscawen run by the adjutant general. The state’s obligation is capped by statute at a grave site, opening and closing the grave, and maintenance, and eligibility for interment is set by regulation rather than by the statute.
Also called: 110-B:74, 110-B:75, 110-B:77, 110-B:78, Boscawen, New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery, reinterment, grave liner, honor guard, taps, 2022 chapter 322.
RSA 110-B:74 places the New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery in Boscawen and puts its operation and maintenance under the adjutant general.
The statute currently prints that section twice, and the second version is contingent rather than dated. The header on the first reads "[RSA 110-B:74 effective until the terms of 2022, 322:3, II and 6, II are met]" and on the second "[RSA 110-B:74 effective upon the terms of 2022, 322:3, II and 6, II being met]". The replacement text puts the cemetery "under the direction of an unclassified director of the state veterans cemetery who shall be qualified to hold that position by reason of education and experience." So the change from administration by the adjutant general to a dedicated unclassified director happens when conditions in the 2022 act are satisfied rather than on a calendar date. A reader cannot tell from the statute alone which version is currently operative, and the catalog records that rather than guessing.
Eligibility for interment is not in the statute. RSA 110-B:78 directs the adjutant general to adopt regulations, subject to the approval of the governor and council, on "standards and procedures for application and determination of eligibility for interment in the veterans cemetery", on operating policies, on "the type of grave markers permitted in each area of the cemetery", and on "the requirement and location of permanent vaults and grave liners for burials in the cemetery". In practice the cemetery follows federal national cemetery eligibility, but the statute does not say so, so the operative rule is the adjutant general's regulation and that is where to check a marginal case.
What the state owes is capped, and this is the sentence to read before planning a funeral. RSA 110-B:77, II: "Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to obligate the state beyond the furnishing of a grave site, opening and closing of the grave, and maintenance of the cemetery."
Three items. Grave site, opening and closing, and maintenance. Not the marker, not the grave liner or vault, not a chapel fee. Compare the South Carolina and Minnesota entries in this catalog, where the state provides the marker and the liner. In New Hampshire the marker comes from the federal Department of Veterans Affairs under 38 U.S.C. 2306 for an eligible veteran, and the liner or vault that RSA 110-B:78, IV requires the adjutant general to regulate is a cost to be asked about.
RSA 110-B:77, III sets out what the family may expect at the service: "A veteran shall be entitled to burial within a reasonable time after notification to appropriate cemetery personnel by a funeral director or a family member of the veteran, provided that weather conditions permit the burial." The family has the option of a chapel service or a graveside service, and "the service may contain any or all customs and practices usual at a military funeral, including but not limited to, gun salutes, honor guards, and the playing of taps." The limit follows immediately: "The state shall not be responsible for any costs associated with a funeral service that is not offered by any federal cemetery." New Hampshire will not pay for something a national cemetery would not provide.
The weather proviso is not a formality in New Hampshire. Winter interment schedules at northern cemeteries routinely slip, and the entitlement is to burial within a reasonable time "provided that weather conditions permit".
Reinterment is allowed on a cost-neutral basis. RSA 110-B:77, I: remains of eligible veterans previously buried elsewhere may be reinterred "provided that no cost other than that which would be incurred in the original burial is borne by the state." The disinterment, transport and any third-party costs fall on the family.
Funding is protected. RSA 110-B:77, IV makes all federal funds received and income earned from interment fees nonlapsing and continually appropriated "for the sole purpose of supporting the New Hampshire state veterans cemetery", so interment fee income cannot be swept into the general fund.
RSA 110-B:75 lets the adjutant general accept conditional and unconditional gifts, including money, material, equipment, services and facilities, from any public or private source for the cemetery's operation, maintenance and improvement, with the governor's concurrence under RSA 4:8. That is how the New Hampshire Veterans Cemetery Association funds improvements the appropriation does not cover.
RSA 110-B:76 lists the cemetery director's duties in ten paragraphs, which is more operational detail than most states put in statute, and paragraph IX makes the director the liaison to the New Hampshire Veterans Cemetery Association, Inc.
Thresholds
Thresholds for New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery
Gate
Rule
Eligibility for interment is set by regulation, not by the statute
RSA 110-B:78, I directs the adjutant general to adopt regulations, subject to approval of the governor and council, on standards and procedures for determining eligibility for interment. The statute states no service or discharge test.
The state provides the grave site, opening and closing, and maintenance only
RSA 110-B:77, II. The marker, the permanent vault or grave liner regulated under RSA 110-B:78, IV, and anything a federal cemetery would not offer are outside the state’s obligation.
Burial within a reasonable time, weather permitting
RSA 110-B:77, III. The family chooses a chapel or graveside service and may have gun salutes, honor guards and taps, but the state is not responsible for costs associated with a service a federal cemetery would not offer.
Reinterment is allowed if it costs the state no more than an original burial
RSA 110-B:77, I permits reinterment of an eligible veteran previously buried elsewhere provided no cost beyond that of the original burial is borne by the state.
=No change to benefitsPuts the state veterans cemetery under its own director rather than the adjutant general; no eligibility changes.
Amended RSA 110-B:74 to replace administration of the New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery by the adjutant general with direction by "an unclassified director of the state veterans cemetery who shall be qualified to hold that position by reason of education and experience", and rewrote the director’s duties in RSA 110-B:76 in ten paragraphs effective September 6, 2022. The replacement version of RSA 110-B:74 does not take effect on a calendar date. The published statute prints both versions under contingent headers: one "effective until the terms of 2022, 322:3, II and 6, II are met" and one "effective upon the terms of 2022, 322:3, II and 6, II being met". Flagged because a reader of the statute cannot tell which version is currently operative, the catalog therefore cannot state who directs the cemetery, and a condition-contingent effective date of this kind will not appear in any secondary description of the cemetery. Eligibility for interment is separately left to regulations the adjutant general adopts under RSA 110-B:78, I, so the statute states no service or discharge test at all.
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Disclaimer
VetTOC is not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or the Department of Defense. Information is for reference only and is not an eligibility determination. Verify with VA, the relevant state or territory, or an accredited VSO.