When a veteran dies, the family left behind is often too overwhelmed by grief to go looking for paperwork. That's a problem, because federal burial benefits earned through military service don't apply themselves. A new Pennsylvania law hopes to close that gap by making sure someone always tells the family what they're owed.
On July 21, 2026, Governor Josh Shapiro signed Senate Bill 130, now Act 42 of 2026, as part of a package of 24 bipartisan bills. The law requires licensed funeral directors, funeral homes, and cemetery companies to notify the county within 96 hours of receiving the remains of a deceased veteran or service member, and to hand the family contact information for their county's veterans affairs director within the same window.
Closing the Awareness Gap
The bill's sponsor, state Sen. Doug Mastriano, has pushed the measure through the legislature over the past year specifically because so many grieving families never learn what's available to them. As he put it while the bill moved through committee, "Families often aren't even aware of benefits their veteran earned, so they unnecessarily place too great of a burden on themselves".
Those benefits can include a VA burial allowance, a government headstone or marker, a burial flag, and military funeral honors — support that's already earned but easy to miss during one of the hardest weeks of a family's life. By putting the responsibility on funeral homes and cemeteries, which are already in contact with the family, the law removes the guesswork of figuring out who to call.
Part of a Larger Package
SB 130 wasn't signed in isolation. Shapiro's July 21 signing also included legislation designating a Korean War Veterans Armistice Day in Pennsylvania, part of a broader slate of bills touching workforce licensing, public safety, and veterans' affairs. Act 42 takes effect 60 days after enactment, giving counties and funeral homes until roughly late September 2026 to put the notification process in place.
Why It Matters Beyond Pennsylvania
Every state runs its own patchwork of veteran benefit programs, and the biggest barrier to using them is often simply not knowing they exist — a pattern Operation WarriorFit sees constantly among the veterans and first responders we work with nationwide. Pennsylvania veterans and their families can look up what they qualify for on our Pennsylvania veteran benefits guide, and any veteran, service member, or first responder curious whether they qualify for a free race entry is welcome to check their eligibility.