Governor Quinn's Cemetery Oversight Task Force worked overtime to get their report done early, and Illinois' death care industry now faces new questions about reform legislation. It would appear that SB1682 will not be the last shot fired in the battle for death care reform for Illinois.
The full report is available on the Governor's website.
Recent problems in Illinois and Kansas have prompted funeral directors, and funeral regulators, to recommend that more regulation should be required of cemeteries, including licensing. What’s good for us is good for you.
When the Illinois Comptroller assured the public that the state was acting promptly to revoke Burr Oak’s license, many distraught families could have reasonably assumed Mr. Hynes was taking drastic action against the cemetery. When a regulator ‘jerks’ a funeral home license, the action puts that establishment out of business. Not so for the cemetery licenses required by Illinois and Missouri.
The licenses granted by these states authorize the cemetery to receive and administer funds for endowed care or preneed. Under Missouri’s cemetery law, compliance with the endowed care requirements is voluntary. If a cemetery wants to hold itself out to the public as having an endowed care fund, then it must comply with Chapter 214. If the cemetery doesn’t want the hassle of maintaining a trust and filing reports, it can operate as a non-endowed cemetery by making certain disclosures. The vast majority of Missouri’s cemeteries operate as non-endowed cemeteries.
So when Mr. Hynes jerks Burr Oaks’ license that means the cemetery can’t accept preneed funds or endowed care contributions. It doesn’t mean the cemetery has been closed for business. In fact, regulators like Mr. Hynes face a dilemma when the encounter a Burr Oak Cemetery, or a Valley View Cemetery: there are still burials to be made.
What transpired over the years at Burr Oak Cemetery is an atrocity. Hundreds of grave spaces have been desecrated, causing extreme emotional distress to all families having a loved one buried at the cemetery.
The demand for action has been intense, and Illinois politicians have responded with legislative proposals to improve oversight of cemeteries. The Comptroller’s proposal would require cemeteries to be licensed. Governor Quinn has countered with a proposal to establish a commission. Some in the press assert there are enough laws on the books to take action. To an extent, the latter point of view is accurate. There are laws on the books to protect against what happened at Burr Oak. The issue is who has the responsibility (and resources) to enforce those laws? (Hint: It’s not the Comptroller.)
If the public sides with the politicians seeking to create a new state agency for cemetery oversight, there will be a cost to all cemeteries subject to that law. Those costs will eventually be passed on to the consumer and the cemetery industry will struggle with the issue of whether that law should cover the cemeteries owned by municipalities, counties and churches? Such costs will also impact funeral homes when families want a traditional funeral, but have limited resources.
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