Committee amends cemetery registry bill, narrows scope after lawmaker and constituent testimony

Senator Roem presented Senate Bill 11-18, which would change a prior permissive cemetery-registry statute into a mandatory requirement for localities to maintain registries of private cemeteries. The senator said voluntary efforts over three years had not produced the intended protections and described cases where historic family cemeteries were damaged or destroyed during development.

Roem read a constituent account describing family cemeteries “laid to rest beside each other for over 200 years” and told the committee the county had documented more than 400 sites but had not placed them in a protective database as promised. Supporters including Laura Bateman of Virginia First Cities and other local government representatives said the bill would help turn vacant and blighted property back into useful tax-producing parcels and protect historic burial sites.

During committee discussion, Delegate Hodges offered a friendly amendment to limit the mandatory requirement to Planning District 8; Senator Roem said she was amenable to workshopping the scope and accepted the amendment. The committee then moved to report the bill as amended. The clerk announced that Senate Bill 11-18 reports as amended; the transcript records the action but does not include a roll-call tally in the excerpt.

The amendment narrows immediate application and the sponsor signaled willingness to continue negotiating boundaries and a delayed enactment clause that appears in the draft. The committee’s action sends the amended bill forward with the narrower scope preserved for additional consideration.