A. For purposes of this section:

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Terms Used In Virginia Code 10.1-2211.2

  • Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
  • City: means an independent incorporated community which became a city as provided by law before noon on July 1, 1971, or which has within defined boundaries a population of 5,000 or more and which has become a city as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-208
  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Department: means the Department of Historic Resources. See Virginia Code 10.1-2200
  • Director: means the Director of the Department of Historic Resources. See Virginia Code 10.1-2200
  • Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
  • Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
  • Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
  • State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245

“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, 1948, 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, any person or locality that owns a historical African American cemetery, or any locality whose purpose for applying for funding pursuant to this section is to maintain a neglected historical African American cemetery, or a portion thereof, that is located within its jurisdictional bounds.

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 bases of both (i) the number of graves, monuments, and markers in a cemetery of African Americans who were alive prior to January 1, 1900, regardless of the date of interment, and (ii) the number of graves, monuments, and markers in a cemetery of African Americans who were born on or after January 1, 1900, and interred in such cemetery prior to January 1, 1948, 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.

a IN THE COUNTY OF: NUMBER:
b Arlington
c Calloway Cemetery 29
d Lomax Cemetery 66
e Mount Salvation Cemetery 29
f Buckingham
g Stanton Family Cemetery 36
h Henrico
i East End Cemetery 4,875
j Loudoun
k African-American Burial Ground for the Enslaved at Belmont 44
l Mt. Zion Old School Baptist Church Cemetery 33
m Montgomery
n Wake Forest Cemetery 40
o Westview Cemetery 47
p Pulaski
q New River Cemetery 33
r West Dublin Cemetery 44
s IN THE CITY OF: NUMBER:
t Alexandria
u Baptist Cemetery of the African American Heritage Park 28
v Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery 631
w Douglass Cemetery 83
x Lebanon Union Cemetery 53
y Methodist Protestant Cemetery 1,134
z Penny Hill Cemetery 14
aa Charlottesville
ab Daughters of Zion Cemetery 192
ac Chesapeake
ad Cuffeytown Cemetery 52
ae Hampton
af Bassette’s Cemetery 212
ag Elmerton Cemetery 339
ah Good Samaritan Cemetery 37
ai Pleasant Shade Cemetery 29
aj Queen Street Cemetery 14
ak Tucker Family Cemetery 15
al Union Street Cemetery 125
am Harrisonburg
an Newtown Cemetery 400
ao Martinsville
ap Matthews Cemetery 8
aq The People’s Cemetery 178
ar Smith Street Cemetery 9
as Portsmouth
at Mt. Calvary Cemetery 266
au Radford
av Mountain View Cemetery 91
aw Richmond
ax Evergreen Cemetery 2,100
ay Suffolk
az 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. However, a locality that is eligible for funding pursuant to subsection B or C may apply to the Director for such a grant without having received funding pursuant to subsection B or C. A locality’s application for the grant shall not preclude another qualified organization from applying for funding pursuant to subsection B or C for the same cemetery or grave. A grant made pursuant to this subsection 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.

2017, c. 270; 2018, cc. 428, 433, 434, 614, 818; 2019, cc. 184, 251, 252, 257, 260, 268; 2020, cc. 82, 83, 455, 456; 2022, cc. 187, 450, 540, 541; 2023, cc. 95, 96.