Advocacy Alerts and Legislative Reports
2024 Advocacy Updates
AFCCA Advocacy Updates April 11, 2024
The Arizona legislature recently passed two bills that will impact the Funeral Profession in Arizona, HB2140 and HB2081, both of which have successfully navigated through the House and Senate. As of April 10, 2024, these legislative measures have received the Governor’s signature,. A Closer Look at HB2140 HB2140 makes various changes to the statutes governing funeral industry professionals, licensure and regulations in attempt to clean up legislative moves in 2023 around licensure, education and the …
AFCCA Advocacy Updates March 13, 2024
The Senate President has insisted that inspections will revert to a five-year interval, as opposed to the current two-year period written into HB2140. There will not be a separate license for Alkaline Hydrolysis; instead, it will be included under the existing cremation license. This applies irrespective of the location of the cremation process. There will also need to be an amendment to define cremation to include Alkaline Hydrolysis. HB2140 successfully passed through the rules on …
AFCCA Advocacy Updates February 27 – HB2140
As of February 26, HB2140 continues to move through the Senate, and you can review the latest version via this link: House Engrossed Version – HB2140. However, it seems we’ll need to make some adjustments, according to the Senate President’s guidance. HB2140 has been assigned to the Senate Finance and Commerce Committee, and Courtney LeVinus (AZ Capitol Consulting) intends to engage with committee members and brief them on the importance of this legislation. In recent communications …
AFCCA Advocacy Updates January 11
Our clean up bill from last year’s legislation, HB2140, has been introduced and will be sponsored by Rep. Hendrix. Courtney LeVinus joined our January Board of Directors meeting to provide an update. Page 4 of her slide deck shows the key points of cleanup in the bill. The board feels strongly that we do need to keep the state exam as a requirement, even if it’s very basic, standard questions that every licensee should know. …
Archives: Legislative Watch
AFCCA Advocacy Updates May 15 – SB1210
Yesterday, SB1210 passed unanimously out of the House. Prior to the vote, the bill was amended on the floor to include all of the amendments that we negotiated with the sponsor, and at this point all of our concerns have been addressed. The most current version of the bill, that includes all of the amendments, can be viewed here— https://www.azleg.gov/legtext/56leg/1R/bills/SB1210H.pdf. Since the bill was amended in the House, it will have to receive a final vote …
AFCCA Advocacy Updates May 11 – SB1210
Today, May 11, Jake Hinman from AZ Capitol Consulting gave a report to the Board of Directors on SB1210, which has come come a really long way from where we started almost 18 months ago. With the upcoming amendment, everything w we have asked for is put back in the bill: Education requirements Testing requirement Requirement to embalm 25 bodies to receive embalmer license Requirement to arrange 25 funerals to receive Funeral Director license. The …
AFCCA Advocacy Updates March 27 – SB1210
Today, March 27, several stakeholders met to discuss SB1210. In this meeting was bill sponsor, Senator Steve Kaiser, as well as Senator Anna Hernandez and Representative Cesar Aguilar, members from the State Board of Funeral Directors & Embalmers, Representation from Arizona Department of Health & Human Services, plus many members of the Funeral Profession and finally, several policy writers, researchers and representation from the joint legislative budget committee. We felt it was a very productive …
AFCCA Advocacy Updates March 21 – SB1210
SB1210 passed out of House Commerce Committee this afternoon, March 21, with party line votes (all Republicans supported and all democrats opposed). There was a floor amendment offered by Rep. Aguilar to continue the Board for one additional year. The amendment is what we call a “strike-everything amendment” where all of the text on the underlying bill would be struck and replaced with the new language. The amendment failed as all of the Republicans opposed. …
AFCCA Advocacy Updates February 15 – SB1210
Today, February 15, was the Commerce Committee hearing on SB1210 (review introduced version here). There was an amendment offered from the floor (review amendment document here) that was accepted by the committee. The key points of the amendment are: Writes back in the Embalmer License Implements an Advisory Counsel within DHS made up of four industry professionals and three public members AFCCA is appreciative of the amendment that was accepted, though we are aware there …
AFCCA Advocacy Updates February 1 – SB1210
The draft bill/Act SB1210, to revise the Funeral and Embalmers Statutes and Rules was dropped on January 25, 2023 and can be reviewed here. A meeting was held on Monday, January 30 between Senator Kaiser plus staff, and representation from Messingers and AFCCA. Our key points of discussion were: Writing back in the Embalmer License and maintaining the Funeral Director, Crematory Operator and Hydrolysis Operator licenses. Ensuring education remains in tact to receive licensing and …
AFCCA Advocacy Updates – January 10 Committee of Reference Hearing Recap
On Tuesday, the House and Senate held a Committee of Reference hearing to discuss the Funeral Board. The video from Tuesday’s COR hearing can be viewed here: Video Player (azleg.gov). The Funeral Board discussion starts at the 2-hour, 50-minute mark. As expected from our discussion with Sen. Kaiser prior to the hearing, the Auditor General provided a brief overview of their previous findings and recommendations, and Sen. Kaiser reminded the Committee about last year’s bill to …
AFCCA Advocacy Updates – 2023 Legislative Session is Underway
The 2023 Legislative Session is underway, to the best of its ability. This year started bumpy and there is a lot of chaos at the capital, but AFCCA and Capitol Consulting will remain diligent in keeping track of the status of the Funeral Board and Licensure. Over the past six months, there have been numerous stakeholder discussions with legislators, other interested parties, members of the funeral profession and the Association. The purpose of these meetings …
December Advocacy Update: Capitol Consulting Legislative Update
While it seems like not much is happening and we do not have a final answer for our members of the future of our profession in Arizona, AFCCA and Capitol Consulting have been keeping the conversations flowing and advocating in the background. Here are a few updates from Jake Hinman, Capitol Consulting, to keep you in the know: Sen. Kaiser was recently named Senate Commerce chair which likely means he will be the bill sponsor …
Body Broker Bill Introduced in the Senate
Consensual Donation and Research Integrity Act would protect the dignity of donors and offer peace of mind to families. With the introduction of the Consensual Donation and Research Integrity Act (CDRI Act) (S. 4929) yesterday by Sens. Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Thom Tillis (R-NC), the Senate today took a significant step toward bringing meaningful change to the largely unregulated process of whole body donation. Donating a loved one’s body for medical research upon their death …
December Advocacy Update: Capitol Consulting Legislative Update
While it seems like not much is happening and we do not have a final answer for our members of the future of our profession in Arizona, AFCCA and Capitol Consulting have been keeping the conversations flowing and advocating in the background. Here are a few updates from Jake Hinman, Capitol Consulting, to keep you in the know: Sen. Kaiser was recently named Senate Commerce chair which likely means he will be the bill sponsor …
Advocacy Update: September 13 Stakeholder Meeting Recap
Yesterday, September 13th, was the kick off of stake holder meeting discussions surrounding the Arizona State Board of Funeral Directors & Embalmers and a regulation model. This first meeting’s intent was to hear from the private sector, meaning funeral professionals, as well as other interested parties concerning regulation in the state of Arizona. We are thankful to those who came to represent our profession today, Donna Backhaus Program Director at CGCC Mortuary Science Program; Al …
HB2123 Next Steps
The association has been very actively involved this past legislative session on HB2123. Originally there was no continuation bill meaning that there would not have been a board as of June 30. The bill that was introduced and then passed will give us the opportunity to meet with legislators to work over the summer and into next legislative session on what the future of the board looks like. We and the members are of course …
May 20 Advocacy Update: Capitol Consulting Legislative Update
Day 131 – We are happy to report that on Wednesday, HB2123: FUNERALS; REGULATION; CONTINUATION, unanimously passed the full Senate by a vote of 25-0-5. The bill is now being transmitted to the House for concurrence. Once the House concurs with the amendments, it will then receive a final vote in the House. We will continue to meet with House members to explain the importance of the bill. As for Rep. Michelle Udall’s (LD-25) HB2024: …
May 13 Advocacy Update: Capitol Consulting Legislative Update
Day 124 – Continuing a trend of the past few weeks, both chambers adjourned early this week. After calendaring only two bills, the House adjourned for the week on Monday, with the Senate following suit on Tuesday after calendaring four bills. This is primarily the result of stalled budget negotiations which seem to have made little progress over the past month. Late last week, the Governor signed a bill placing additional checks and balances on the Executive’s emergency powers. Introduced …
May 6 Advocacy Update: Capitol Consulting Legislative Update
This update is provided by Courtney Gilstrap LeVinus Capitol Consulting, LLC Courtney@azcapitolconsulting.com Day 117 – Another very slow week at the Capitol. In fact, in what seems to be a trend lately, the Senate adjourned for the week on Wednesday after only calendaring nine bills. All of this is due to a budget impasse within the majority party. Because of this slowdown, both AZFCCA priority bills are in limbo like many other bills in the Senate. Making …
April 28 Advocacy Update: HB2123 & HB2024
The legislature once again had a very slow week. Yesterday, both the House and Senate adjourned early and won’t be back until Monday. The slowdown is largely attributed to the budget standstill, though there are some rumblings that the budget could pick up some steam in the next couple of weeks. One of the bigger developments for the budget was last week’s AZ Supreme Court ruling that rejected the November referendum related to last year’s …
HB2123 – Funeral Board Extension Bill Timeline
April 18, 2022 HB2123 Funeral Board Extension Bill passed unanimously through Senate Rule with no comments or discussion. It is scheduled to be heard in caucus on April 19, which does not require a vote, it is an opportunity for the bill to be heard by all the members of the Senate. There are no actions to be taken at this time. April 15, 2022 HB2123 Funeral Board Extension Bill is on the Senate Rules …
April 7, 2023 Advocacy Update
Today, we met with Senate Majority Staff to discuss HB2123, the implications of the bill, and most importantly, the bill’s intent. As you know, HB2123 continues the State Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers, but only until March 31, 2023. The bill also redefines “licensed” persons as “registered” persons. Initially we were under the impression that bill was introduced with the sole intention of deregulating the industry, similar to what has happened with several regulatory …
April 1, 2022 Advocacy Update: HB2123 Striker Language Adopted
Good Afternoon,Please accept my heartfelt thanks for your support of me as the AFCCA President. I have and always will support the best interests of the funeral profession. Your AFCCA board of directors has had the opportunity to present the best of themselves and made a contribution toward meaningful dialogue. Being present and being heard is the only way change is made. Today, through a continuing resolution, the Arizona State Senate, specifically the appropriations committee, Unanimously …
May 26, 2020
The Legislature officially adjourned sine die today at 11:21 a.m. The House adjourned last Thursday and was awaiting the response from the Senate. The Senate had planned to third read some house bills but a few minutes into the floor session a motion was made by the Democrats to adjourn the session sine die. Republicans Senator Paul Boyer, Senator Heather Carter and Senator Kate Brophy McGee voted with the Democrats and the session ended with them being on the floor for less than five minutes. The bills that the House transmitted for action in the Senate were not voted upon so they dead.
President Fann had indicated she had expected a motion to be made but did not expect it so soon. The President didn’t even have enough time to read the script transmitting the Senate bills approved by the House to send to Governor Ducey. Therefore, she will need to instruct the Senate Secretary to transmit the bills outside of the session because transmission is required by the state constitution. The COVID 19 liability bill passed by the House last week was not acted upon by the Senate so it is dead for now. There is a possibility that it will be part of an upcoming special session to deal with budget issues. Leadership stated they believe there will be a special session in the next 30 days to address outstanding budget issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Arizona Legislature passed the “responsible” budget March 23, 2020 and suspended further work until April 13th. Both the House and the Senate have adjourned until Monday, April 13th. They will determine at that time how the remainder of the session will be handled.
Industry Legislative Reports
AFCCA Legislative Watch 1-24-20
AFCCA Legislative Watch 1-31-20
AFCCA Legislative Watch 2-13-20
AFCCA Legislative Watch 2-21-20
AFCCA Legislative Watch 2-28-20
AFCCA Legislative Watch 3-9-20
AFCCA Legislative Watch 3-13-20
AFCCA Legislative Watch 3-24-20
AFCCA Legislative Watch 5-22-20
Business Reports
The legislature adjourned sine die May 28, 2019 at 1:00am.
AFCCA Legislative Report May 29, 2019
AFCCA Legislative Report May 17, 2019
AFCCA Legislative Report May 10, 2019
AFCCA Legislative Report May 3, 2019
AFCCA Legislative Report April 26, 2019
AFCCA Legislative Report April 18, 2019
AFCCA Legislative Report April 12, 2019
AFCCA Legislative Report February 22, 2019
Business Bills – February 22, 2019
Proposition 126 on the Ballot November 6
A “yes” vote supports this constitutional amendment to prohibit the state and local governments from enacting new taxes or increasing tax rates on services performed in the state.
A “no” vote opposes this constitutional amendment, thus retaining the power of the state and local governments to enact taxes on services in the future.
AZ News Service Session Update – May 4, 2018
After 116 days, multiple budget proposals and a teacher strike, the Legislature adjourned sine die at 12:26 a.m. Friday. The Senate and House closed out their business slowly and methodically, all while GOP leaders pushed for a way to undermine a referendum on a 2017 law expanding access to private school vouchers. But their effort was for naught, as Brophy McGee and Worsley remained steadfast in their opposition to the proposal, even as leadership pulled Worsley’s legislative priorities from calendars as punishment. The effort to repeal Laws 2017, Chapter 139 (S1431: empowerment scholarships; expansion; phase-in), approved in 2017, was never brought up for a vote. Brophy McGee and Worsley also helped defeat a measure to overhaul the Arizona redistricting process by adding new commissioners to the IRC. Elsewhere, lawmakers approved a new surcharge on traffic tickets to fund virtual reality training for law enforcement. In the House, two medical marijuana related bills sponsored by Borrelli failed to receive the super majority backing necessary to amend the state’s medical marijuana act despite broad bipartisan support. S1420 (medical marijuana; inspection; testing; appropriation) sought to give the Dept of Agriculture the authority to test marijuana as the agency does other edible crops, and got only 36 yes votes on reconsideration. Meanwhile, S1282 (medical marijuana fund; appropriation), which sought to establish requirements for registered non-profit medical marijuana dispensaries, also failed to clear the three-fourths vote threshold. A floor amendment to S1282 that tacked on an excise tax, which required a two-thirds vote, was approved. Mesnard told members after the vote that despite not reaching the three-fourths threshold, parts of the legislation were approved. He said he would leave it up to the clerk’s office to figure out which parts. But it was all in vain after the Senate defeated S1282, 10-19. The House also approved S1444 (schools; American civics education), 52-7, which would require the Dept of Education to develop a five-year pilot program set to begin in 2019 for an American civics education course for high school students. The bill appropriates $500,000 from the general fund in FY2019 to the pilot program. Finally, both chambers approved the 10 House bills that Ducey vetoed last month during a budget standoff with lawmakers over teacher raises.
It has been our pleasure to serve you this session and we will provide a full session report in the next few weeks. As a reminder the Governor after the adjournment of the session has 10 days to sign, veto or allow to become law without his signature. The general effective date is 90 days after the completion of the session unless otherwise specified in the bill. If you have any questions relating to any bills in the interim please contact us.
Trish & John
2017 Final Reports
May 11, 2017
March 21, 2017
SB1296 has been held and is a dead bill as of today. It could be added as a strike to another piece of legislation, so Trish Hart will continue to monitor.
February 13, 2017
SB1295 and SB1296 were presented to the Commerce Committee.
SB1295 – http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/53leg/1r/bills/sb1295p.htm
SB1296 – http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/53leg/1r/bills/sb1296p.htm
SB1295 was effectively killed by the committee and will not be moving forward.
SB1296 was passed and is moving to the senate. The issue that arose was that according to the commissioner, removing the embalming license portion also negates the need to go to mortuary school to receive a funeral director’s license. This means anyone can get a funeral director’s license.
February 10, 2017
January 27, 2017
2016 Final Reports
2016 Final Legislative Report (00018813)
2016 Final Legislative Report (00018828)
2016 Legislative Final Report (00018786)
March 12, 2016
March 4, 2016
HB2613 Update
The cremationist licensing requirements were restored in the attached amendment, see pages 7-15.
The only significant change is the addition of the following language:
“E. NOTWITHSTANDING ANY OTHER LAW, A RESPONSIBLE CREMATIONIST IS REQUIRED TO BE LICENSED PURSUANT TO THIS ARTICLE. ANY OTHER CREMATIONIST MAY BE LICENSED PURSUANT TO THIS ARTICLE BUT, IF NOT LICENSED, MAY ENGAGE ONLY IN CREMATION ACTIVITY THAT IS ALLOWED WITHOUT A LICENSE.”
HOUSE ADOPTED AMENDMENT: SUB Floor Amend to COM – Petersen – passed
February 10, 2016
January 25, 2016
Below is your Final Legislative Report for the 2015 Session. It is in three sections:
- General Overview: 52nd Regular Session Overview (00018194)
- AFCCA Bills: AFCCA Final Legislative Update 2015 (00018203)
- General “Business” Bills: AZ BUSINSS Final Legislative Update 2015 (00018191)
March 4, 2015
February 27, 2015
February 24, 2015
Once again, HB 2116 (first introduced in 2014) has been brought and passed through committee. It is expected to go to House for vote within the next 2 weeks. The AFCCA is working to bring information to you as it is released. Below is a link to the bill that has been amended from last year. It now includes a clause that only affects pre-need arrangements going forward after the bill has passed.
Read the Amended Bill: HB 2116
January 23, 2015
January 19, 2015
Arizona House Bill 2267 “Burial; Instructions” received a do pass recommendation from the House Commerce committee on February 5, 2014. On 2/20/2014, The bill was amended on the floor of the house by adding, “3. THE INSTRUCTIONS DO NOT VIOLATE THE WRITTEN POLICIES AND PROCEDURES OF THE FUNERAL ESTABLISHMENT, CREMATORY OR CEMETERY.” The bill was transmitted to the Senate on 2/24/2014 and assigned the Commerce, Energy and Military committee where it is currently being held.
4/21/14 Update: The bill H2267 is in the Senate awaiting committee of the whole action and third reading in the Senate.
4/22/14 Update: The bill H2267 was stopped by it’s sponsor. It may be revisited in 2015.
The House Summary describes the provisions of the bill:
- Permits decedents, prior to death, to direct in writing the disposition of their remains and specify funeral goods and services to be provided.
- Prohibits any modifications to the decedents’ written instructions, except as required by law.
- Mandates the decedents’ written instructions be carried out, if both of the following requirements are met:
- Arrangements for payment are met, whether through trusts, insurance or commitments by others.
- The written instructions are clear and complete with details that preclude any material ambiguity.
The house amendment adds a condition that the wishes of the decedent need not be followed if those wishes would violate a policy of the cemetery, crematory, or funeral establishment.
The Association Board discussed the bill with those seeking its passage when it was in its original form. Some members of the board voiced concerns at that time but were not concerned enough to oppose those members of the association who had introduced the bill. The Board decided at that time to remain neutral, not wishing to expend resources in support or in opposition. We invite the members to give us their opinions and recommendations.
Final 2014 Legislative Reports
- AZ BUSINESS Final Legislative Update 2014 (00017515)
- 2014 Session Report (00017477)
- AFCCA Final Legislative Update 2014 (00017495)
April 2014 NFDA Legislative Report
April 25, 2014
April 18, 2014
March 13, 2014
March 5, 2014
February 10, 2014
January 25th, 2013
February 10, 2013
February 17, 2013
February 22, 2013
April 12, 2013