SB354 establishes the fourteen member "Maryland Inventory of Cemeteries and Burial Sites Workgroup" which
is to be staffed by MHT and include the Director of MHT as one of its members. The duties of the
Workgroup are to:
(1) identify and review the various definitions of the terms “cemetery”, “burial group”,
“burial site”, and any related terms in the Maryland Annotated Code and recommend a single definition
for each term;
(2) identify and evaluate current cemetery documentation practices used by county governments and
municipal cultural resource management and historic preservation programs, nonprofit preservation
organizations, and private entities;
(3) identify and evaluate cemetery inventory systems implemented in other states to determine best
practices for and challenges to designing, implementing, and maintaining a cemetery inventory system
in the State;
(4) evaluate existing cemetery inventories maintained by county governments, historic preservation
programs, and genealogical organizations to determine the best methods for integrating existing
information into a State cemetery inventory system;
(5) identify and recommend a set of categories for data collection and maintenance and system
functions, including a public search function, for a State cemetery inventory system;
(6) recommend the appropriate entity to collect data for and maintain a State cemetery inventory
system;
(7) determine the cost of designing, implementing, and maintaining a State cemetery inventory system
and recommend a source of funding to implement a State cemetery inventory system beginning in
fiscal year 2027; and
(8) evaluate the feasibility and cost of establishing a grant program to provide financial assistance
to governmental entities and nonprofit genealogical and historical organizations to expedite
identification of cemeteries and recommend the funding amount and source for a grant program
beginning in fiscal year 2027.
The Working Group's report is due to be submitted to the Governor by 12/1/2025.
