Dear Senator Schatz,

We appreciate that your Senate Appointment Committee has a packed hearing date for April 20th.  So, the Missouri funeral industry not represented by the Missouri Funeral Directors and Embalmers Association requests a single question be asked of Ms. Solon:

If confirmed as executive director of the Division of Professional Registration

The State of Missouri seems hell-bent on creating work for Jefferson City attorneys.  As we reported earlier this summer (You were Warned!), the Division of Professional Registration blundered in its first move to control how the State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors conducts inspections of funeral homes.  Since then, the Division has

Because, that is our Policy.

The death care industry is hearing that more frequently these days.   Last July, an Illinois client was advised by the Department of Healthcare and Family Services that his preneed contract would have to be revised to comply with the Department’s new policy about excess preneed funds.  A few clients in

Triggered by the NPS collapse, preneed reform rolled out of the Missouri legislature like a tsunami. When the funeral industry was slow to organize and respond to the situation, legislators worked with state officials to imposed sweeping changes. While SB1 does reflect input provided to the State Board by the industry, the law has flaws

Conventions and seminars provide trade associations and trade journals important sources of revenue. Accordingly, the death care industry has plenty of ‘retreat opportunities’ to choose from. However, there will be a death care convention held in Montgomery Alabama this weekend that will be off limits to funeral directors, cemeterians and their legions of industry vendors.

Death care

Several states have passed laws in the past few years mandating greater preneed oversight. But with state budgets in decline after the 2008 market crash, regulators are hard pressed to find a way to pay for consumer protection.

Colorado’s new law simply states that the contract seller shall bear the cost of its examination.

In