Death Care Compliance Law

• Missouri SB32: New Teeth for the State Board
  One of the weaknesses of Chapter 436, Missouri’s preneed law, is that it provides the State Board few enforcement powers beyond disciplining the preneed seller’s license.  There are plenty of examples of preneed sellers obstructing the State Board’s efforts to obtain preneed records.  At least one resorted to litigation as a delay tactic.  The prospect... […]
  Bill Stalter
• Missouri SB32: The Preneed Audit Fund
  With this post we will examine the new “Preneed Audit Fund” that SB32 proposes to create.  Missouri funeral homes are already quite familiar with the state contract fee that was authorized in 2009 by Senate Bill No. 1.  Per that law, the State Board began charging a fee on each preneed contract sold.  That contract... […]
  Bill Stalter
• Missouri SB32: A New Audit Direction
  With our next few posts we will dive deeper into SB32, the Missouri preneed legislation intended to provide the State Board a new audit direction and some new enforcement tools.  Our first issue will be the change in course on preneed audits.  The bill would amend section 436.470 by adding the following new section: 3. ... […]
  Bill Stalter
• Missouri Preneed Legislation: Time to Follow the Money
  It would seem that the Missouri Legislature has grown impatient with the funeral industry’s efforts to regulate preneed.  New legislation, Senate Bill No. 32, would establish a two tier approach to preneed oversight.  This law would create a threshold whereby the State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors would be required to notify the Department... […]
  Bill Stalter
• Missouri Funeral Legislation: Lowering the Bar
  The current shortage of qualified workers has caught up with the death care industry.  Funeral home owners are finding it difficult to fill open positions.  Salary demands are rising, and industries competing for death care workers can offer perks that funeral homes find difficult to match.   While the death care industry has been notorious for... […]
  Bill Stalter
• Funeral Rule Revisions: Last Chance for Comments
  Most of industry leaders, including the NFDA, seem resigned to the reality that the Funeral Rule will be amended to require the posting of price lists on funeral home websites in some form or fashion. But the FTC extension of the comment deadline from January 3rd to January 17th indicates the Commission does value input... […]
  Bill Stalter
• Funeral Rule Revisions: Some Closing Thoughts
  When the FTC announced its routine review of the Funeral Rule in 2020, the Funeral Consumer Alliance and about half the country’s state attorney generals responded with complaints about online advertising by the funeral industry.   The criticism of funeral home websites led the FTC to conduct its own research of online advertising.   For a four... […]
  Bill Stalter
• Funeral Rule Revisions: Minority Communities
  The last section of the Funeral Rule notice (Issues 37-40) raises questions whether there are funeral provider practices that disproportionately affect minority communities.  Again, we are not quite sure the intent of the FTC when raising these questions.  Concerns have been raised that FEMA’s COVID-19 funeral assistance did not benefit the minority communities as much... […]
  Bill Stalter
• Funeral Rule Readability: What Makes for a Good GPL?
  The next-to-last section of the Funeral Rule notice (Issues 32-36) deals with what the FTC calls Price List Readability.  This seemed to us as a very nebulous phrase, and so we searched “Price List Readability” in the context of the Consumer Funeral Alliance, and lo and behold, the CFA has guidelines for what it suggests... […]
  Bill Stalter
• Funeral Rule’s Embalming Disclosure: When Required by State Law
  Issues 28 through 31 of the FTC Funeral Rule notice concern the embalming disclosure.  Consumer advocates are pressing to have the Funeral Rule be more specific about when state law does or does not require embalming.   For states that require embalming under certain circumstances, consumer advocates want the GPL to reference the state law and... […]
  Bill Stalter