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 are pro-board and pro-licensing
In meetings over the past months, we were able to understand the legislature’s concerns about the past performance of the Board and we do appreciate their efforts to continue to protect the public and ensure that the industry is properly regulated. We also appreciate the State Board’s efforts these past 6 months to correct the findings from the Auditor General’s report and improve functionality overall in their offices.
For us, our priorities are and will always be to encourage education of all those who enter into and continue with the profession; promote high ethical standards in our industry; and provide advocacy for death care professionals and the families they serve. It is imperative that we all embrace high professional standards in the funeral industry to ensure that grieving families are not taken advantage of at a such a vulnerable time.
We look forward to working with stakeholders over the next few months to find the appropriate balance between protecting the public, make certain that funeral homes & crematories can continue to operate as businesses, and that ethical, licensed professionals continue to serve families in their time of need.