Consumer News

Massachusetts

Tuesday, 04 December 2007 15:11

Massachusetts Legislature home page.

Board of Registration in Embalming and Funeral Directing site with links to relevant statutes and regulations.

Preneed Funeral Contract Regulations

A major redraft of the regulations for preneed funeral contracts was approved by the Board of Registration on December 9, 2003 and will be published February 27, 2004 in the Massachusetts Register and be enforced as of April 30, 2004.

As posted on the Division of Professional Licensure web site: http://www.state.ma.us/reg/boards/em/cmr/23904.htm

Press release from Office of Consumer Affairs: New Regulations For Pre-Need Funeral Arrangements Better Protect Consumers

History

Present preneed regulations adopted in 1992. (see attachment below)
The proposed text was published on June 24, 2003, and went to public hearing on September 9 in Boston and September 10 in Worcester.
(see attachment below)
Both of the above are in markup form, with strikethrough of deleted text and bolded inserted text.
The above proposal reformatted to just show the text as it would be after revision:
(see attachment below)
Cover memo by Board of Registration explaining the proposed revisions:
(see attachment below)
Massachusetts Funeral Directors Association comment letter:
(see attachment below)
Massachusetts Funeral Directors Association redraft:
(see attachment below)
Robert M. Folsom comment: (see attachment below)
Funeral Consumers Alliance of E. Mass. comment: (see attachment below)

Attachments:
comment0.pdf	[Funeral Consumers Alliance of E. Mass. comment]	18 Kb	12/31/1969
draft41D.doc	[Text as it would be after revision]	91 Kb	12/31/1969
empreneedregrev41.doc	[The proposed text was published on June 24, 2003]	144 Kb	12/31/1969
empreneedregrevclean2.doc	[Final version as approved by the Board on December 9]	99 Kb	12/31/1969
folsom.pdf	[Robert M. Folsom comment]	53 Kb	12/31/1969
MFDA-cover-letter.doc	[Massachusetts Funeral Directors Association comment letter]	41 Kb	12/31/1969
MFDA-redraft.doc	[Massachusetts Funeral Directors Association redraft]	115 Kb	12/31/1969
regcklstempreneed03.doc	[Cover memo by Board of Registration explaining the proposed revisions]	59 Kb	12/31/1969
Rules and Regulations_ CMR 239-4.pdf	[Present preneed regulations adopted in 1992]	51 Kb	12/31/1969

Last Updated ( Tuesday, 04 December 2007 15:53 )

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Kentucky

Tuesday, 04 December 2007 15:10

5/24/06 — Kentuckians can thank their lawmakers for selling them up the river. The legislature caved to the funeral industry's demands to pass House Bill 232 (see below), a protectionist scheme to keep existing funeral home profits high while denying families lower-cost options. The only concession consumers were able to eke out were a grandfather clause allowing currently existing low-cost, low-overhead funeral homes to keep operating, and a clarification that the state won't try to stop families from caring for their own dead. But anyone who wants to bring simple, low-cost funerals directly to the public can forget about doing it in the Bluegrass State.

1/13/06 — House Bill 232, backed by the funeral industry, would shut down low-cost, competitive funeral homes and raise prices for families. It could also take away families' constitutional right to care for their own dead! To find out more, and to see what you can do about it, click here!.

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Indiana

Tuesday, 04 December 2007 15:10

To check the full text or present legislative status of bills, here is a link to Indiana's legislative page.

Legislators and contact information (including some e-mail).

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Hawaii

Tuesday, 04 December 2007 15:09

5/24/06 - Demonstrating a lack of Aloha spirit, the state legislature failed to tighten Hawaii's prepaid trusting laws for the second year in a row - SB 60 failed. This, despite the fact that the state is suing the islands' largest funeral business for improperly diverting more than $20 million in consumers' prepaid money. Hawaii now shares the honor of being tied with Florida and for the most anti-consumer prepaid funeral trusting deposit laws in the country. Way to go, Hawaii.

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Georgia

Tuesday, 04 December 2007 15:08

8/8/06 - Effective July 1, 2006, HB 910 goes into effect. The law guts most of the protections for cemetery consumers that were enacted in 2000, and gives control over cemetery operations to a board of six cemetery owners and just one consumer representative. Read all about it here.

Last Updated ( Tuesday, 04 December 2007 16:25 )

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