DENVER — Colorado lawmakers on Monday passed a sweeping bill to overhaul the state’s lax oversight of funeral homes after a series of gruesome incidents, including body parts sold, fake ashes and the discovery of 190 rotting bodies.
The cases have devastated hundreds of already grieving families and cast a bright spotlight on the state’s funeral rules, which are among the weakest in the country.
The bill will go to Democratic Gov. Jared Polis’ desk for signature after the latest changes in the Senate are debated by the House of Representatives. If signed, regulators would have much greater enforcement power over funeral homes and would be required to routinely inspect facilities even after one is shuttered.
It joins a second bill passed by both chambers last week that, if signed, would require funeral home directors and other industry positions to pass background checks, obtain a degree in mortuary sciences, and pass a national exam and an internship.
The passage of the legislation comes after 190 decomposing bodies were found in an insect-infested facility at a funeral home about two hours south of Denver. Many families wondered whether the cremated remains they received were actually those of their child or their parents. Some have learned that this was not the case.
Instead, some bodies were left to languish in a building, some for four years. The owners have been arrested and are facing hundreds of charges, including abuse of a corpse.
At another funeral home in Colorado, a body was left in the back of a hearse for more than a year in February.
Colorado’s funeral home regulations are among the weakest in the country. Funeral directors are not required to complete high school and supervisors were not required to conduct routine inspections, as is the case in many other states. These bills would be a dramatic update, putting Colorado on par with the rest of the country.
___
Bedayn is a staff member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
