WHEREAS, At the request of the United States, the Republic of Korea provided more military support to the United States during the Vietnam War, alongside United States soldiers, than any other ally, with approximately 320,000 Republic of Korea soldiers serving in Vietnam between 1965 and 1973, inclusive; and

WHEREAS, Republic of Korea forces suffered 5,099 casualties and an additional 10,962 soldiers were injured in action during the war, and this was approximately the same rate of injury sustained, per capita, as United States forces; and

WHEREAS, An estimated 2,000,000 Korean Americans live in the United States, with more than 29 percent calling California their home, making California the state with the highest population of Korean Americans in the county; and

WHEREAS, There are approximately 3,000 Korean American veterans of the Vietnam War who are naturalized citizens of the United States; and

WHEREAS, A citizen of the United States who, during any war in which the United States has or may be engaged, served in the Armed Forces of any government allied with the United States during that war, whose last active service was terminated honorably by death or otherwise, and who was a citizen of the United States at the time of entry into service and at the time of death, is eligible for burial in a national cemetery; and

WHEREAS, In 2018, the federal government extended burial benefits in national veterans cemeteries to certain Hmong refugees who served in American-backed guerrilla units during the Vietnam War and who subsequently became naturalized United States citizens; and

WHEREAS, States are still unable to permit Hmong veterans to be buried in a state veterans cemetery without risk of losing funding from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Cemetery Grant Program; now, therefore, be it