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 is still more clean up and technical issues that need addressed. Senator Kaiser also acknowledged that he is willing to keep working on the language and that there will be floor amendments at future hearings.
Arizona Board of Funeral Directors & Embalmers Executive Director, Natasha Culbertson, also testified at this hearing and reiterated that the most important aspect is maintaining regulation, providing education and protecting the public. She offered her insight at future stakeholder meetings on the funeral board’s technical concerns surrounding the amendment.
As it happens often at the Capitol, the committee took an unexpected turn with the committee initially voting down the bill. Had the motion carried, we could have been on a course for a complete deregulation. Luckily, in a procedural move, we were able to convince the committee to reconsider the bill, which they did and passed the bill out of committee.
On to the next step with more work to do.
As usual, AFCCA will keep you apprised of all future changes and the progress of this very important bill.
Thank you for your support.