DENVER (AP) — Colorado lawmakers passed a bill Monday to overhaul the state’s lax funeral home oversight, joining a second measure aimed at regulating the industry that passed last week. Both follow a series of horrific incidents, including sold body parts, fake ashes and the discovery of 190 decaying bodies.
The cases have devastated hundreds of already grieving families and shed a glaring spotlight on the state’s funeral home regulations, some of the weakest in the nation. The bill passed Monday will head to Gov. Jared Polis’s desk after the House considers a minor change by the Senate.
The legislation would give regulators greater enforcement power over funeral homes and require the routine inspection of facilities including after one shutters. The second bill, which is already headed to the governors’ desk, would require funeral directors and other industry roles to be licensed. Those qualifications would include background checks, degrees in mortuary science, passage of a national examination and work experience.
They shared a name — but not a future. How two kids fought to escape poverty in Baltimore
Remnants of bird flu virus found in pasteurized milk, FDA says
Luxury £1m homes are destroying our coastline
Tennessee passes bill to allow armed teachers in public schools
Dominica joins other Caribbean islands in striking down laws prohibiting gay sex
Dominica joins other Caribbean islands in striking down laws prohibiting gay sex
They shared a name — but not a future. How two kids fought to escape poverty in Baltimore
Luxury £1m homes are destroying our coastline
These 15 AP photos capturing migrants' struggle were honored with a Pulitzer Prize
Federal money eyed for Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in North Dakota