Clarification of military remains disposition advances

Lawmakers gave first-round approval April 19 to a bill seeking to clarify authorization of disposition of a military member’s remains.

LB420, introduced by Lincoln Sen. Amanda McGill, would specify that the federal DD Form 93 be recognized as the legal instrument authorizing an individual to direct disposition of military remains.

A Health and Human Services Committee amendment replaced the bill and would give priority to direct disposition, if a service member dies during active military service, to the individual authorized by the decedent in his or her federal form.

Lincoln Sen. Kathy Campbell, chairperson of the committee, said the proposal would alleviate a current conflict between Nebraska law and the federal form. State law gives preference regarding disposition to an individual named in a notarized affidavit, she said, which the federal form is not.

“This bill and amendment are extremely important to Nebraskans who are on active duty,” Campbell said.

Sen. Dave Bloomfield of Hoskins supported the bill, calling it “unthinkable” that a different form could take precedence over the federal form updated annually by every service member and prior to each deployment.

“When you sign one of these for your son or your daughter, it gets your attention,” Bloomfield said.

Omaha Sen. Bob Krist also supported LB420, saying the DD Form 93 is one of the last requests that a military member makes and should be honored by the state.

“This (bill) sets the priority where the priority needs to be,” Krist said.

Following adoption of the amendment on a 39-0 vote, the bill advanced to select file 40-0.