HR 4284
Passed a chamber
Allows the Secretary of Agriculture to give cemeteries on federal land to state or local governments, Indian Tribes, or qualified land grant-merced organizations at no cost, provided the land stays in use as a cemetery.
Official title: Small Cemetery Conveyance Act
Timeline each lane is a chamber; dates pull from congress.gov actions
House
Introduced
02-JUL-2025
Referred
02-JUL-2025
Approved by committee
17-DEC-2025
Reported
14-JAN-2026
On the calendar
14-JAN-2026
Passed
16-MAR-2026
Senate
Received
17-MAR-2026
- Amends the Small Tract Act of 1983 to add a section authorizing the Secretary of Agriculture to convey cemetery parcels without consideration
- Covers parcels of 40 acres or less used, or previously used, as cemeteries, plus up to 1 adjacent acre
- Requires that conveyed land be used only to operate a cemetery, with the land reverting to the United States at the Secretary's discretion if that condition is broken
- Lets the Secretary waive certain conveyance cost requirements based on a recipient's demonstrated need
- States that nothing in the bill modifies the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act
Covers an older version. The newest CRS summary describes the bill as of "Reported to House" (14-JAN-2026); the text has changed since (Engrossed in House, 16-MAR-2026).
CRS is the Library of Congress's nonpartisan research office. Read it on congress.gov- Agriculture Committee (House)
- Natural Resources Committee (House)
- Federal Lands Subcommittee
- Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee (Senate)
Public Lands and Natural Resources
■ 1 R
1 Republican