The state of Indiana has just passes a new law that you might want to take a look at as a modle for what Virginia needs. The highlights are:

Defines "removal" as disinterment, disentombment, or disinurnment of the remains of a deceased human.

Limits removal of such remains to situations in which the following have been obtained:
-Must have a a written order of issued by the state department of health; AND
-Must have the written consent of the owner of the cemetery or the owner's representative; AND
-Must have the written consent of the spouse of the deceased OR the parents of the deceased (in the case of a deceased minor child) OR a court order (the latter would apply in situations in which neither the spouse nor parents of the deceased were still living);

-Before issuing the above-referenced written authorization, the State Department of Health shall:
Obtain written evidence of the legal ownership of the property from which the remains will be removed.
-Send written notice to the department of natural resources, division of historic preservation and archeology, of the time, date, and place from which the remains will be removed.
-Obtain written evidence that a licensed funeral director has agreed to be present at the removal and at the reinterment, reentombment, or reinurnment of the remains; and will cause the completed order of the state department of health to be recorded in the office of the county recorder of the county where the removal occurred.
-Obtain written evidence that a notice of the proposed removal has been published at least five (5) days before a written order is issued by the state department of health in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where the removal will occur.
-Obtain a copy of the written consent required under subsection (b)(3); or a court order obtained by a person under subsection (d).
-If the written consent of the spouse of the deceased or the parents of the deceased in the case of a deceased minor is not available, a person who has made a request under this section to the state department of health may petition a court to determine whether to waive the consent requirement of subsection (b)(3). In determining whether to waive the requirement, the court shall consider the viewpoint of any issue (as defined in IC 29-1-1-3) of the deceased [i.e., descendants]. In a proceeding under this subsection, the court may not order the disinterment, disentombment, or disinurnment of the remains of a deceased human.

Full information on this law can be found at:

http://www.rootsweb.com/~inpcrp/legislation.html

Glad to see Indiana is paying attention to this issue. However, it seems the funeral home lobby has been successful as usual. Funeral home personnel generally lack the appropriate training and education to adequately excavate historic burials. I've excavated a number of graves supposedly removed by funeral homes and I am often hired to monitor funeral home grave removals. There are two common problems I've encountered in every single case: 1) graves are not moved completely (i.e., just a few bones are gathered up, leaving the rest in the ground or even on the surface) or 2) the graves are not removed at all (backhoe operators completely miss entire grave shafts of unmarked burials or a little "dust" above the actual coffin chamber is removed with the false impression that the "dust" is all that remains). While I'm thrilled that more states are addressing this increasing problem, which is the result of sprawl in most cases, funeral homes have no business moving old graves. Marked graves with intact vaults can be moved by anyone with little potential for mistakes. Unfortunately, almost all graves dating before 1930 (as well as many, many later ones) contained wood coffins that completely disintegrate over a relatively short period of time, depending on soil conditions and other factors. Many graves, especially those of children, are unmarked. Trained archaeologists, preferably with experience in osteology, should be present for any grave removal job---that is a legal requirement in Georgia. This ensures that ALL graves are moved and that they are moved completely. In the best cases, when the developer is willing to provide funding, we can also glean important historical information from such projects. We can learn quite a bit about the past and about individuals from the past. As I'm writing this response to inform, not to advertise our services, I'm not indicating my corporate affiliation. However, the State Historic Preservation Office in any state can direct you or developers to qualified archaeological consultants, many of whom are on the Registry of Professional Archaeologists.