98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2013 and 2014
HB2616

 

Introduced 2/21/2013, by Rep. Jil Tracy

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
225 ILCS 41/1-15

    Amends the Funeral Directors and Embalmers Licensing Code. Provides that the Act shall not preclude an owner, as defined within the Act, from having personal contact with consumers while a licensed funeral director is present. Effective immediately.


LRB098 10148 MGM 40307 b

 

 

A BILL FOR

 

HB2616LRB098 10148 MGM 40307 b

1    AN ACT concerning regulation.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Funeral Directors and Embalmers Licensing
5Code is amended by changing Section 1-15 as follows:
 
6    (225 ILCS 41/1-15)
7    (Section scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2023)
8    Sec. 1-15. Funeral directing; definition. Conducting or
9engaging in or representing or holding out oneself as
10conducting or engaged in any one or any combination of the
11following practices constitutes the practice of funeral
12directing:
13        (a) The practice of preparing, otherwise than by
14    embalming, for the burial, cremation, or disposition and
15    directing and supervising the burial or disposition of
16    deceased human remains or performing any act or service in
17    connection with the preparing of dead human bodies.
18    Preparation, direction, and supervision shall not be
19    construed to mean those functions normally performed by
20    cemetery and crematory personnel.
21        (b) The practice of operating a place for preparing for
22    the disposition of deceased human bodies or for caring for
23    deceased human bodies before their disposition. Nothing in

 

 

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1    this Code shall prohibit the ownership and management of
2    such a place by an unlicensed owner if the place is
3    operated in accordance with this Code and the unlicensed
4    owner does not engage in any form of funeral directing.
5        (c) The removal of a deceased human body from its place
6    of death, institution, or other location. A licensed
7    funeral director and embalmer intern may remove a deceased
8    human body from its place of death, institution, or other
9    location without another licensee being present. The
10    licensed funeral director may engage others who are not
11    licensed funeral directors, licensed funeral director and
12    embalmers, or licensed funeral director and embalmer
13    interns to assist in the removal if the funeral director
14    directs and instructs them in handling and precautionary
15    procedures and accompanies them on all calls. The
16    transportation of deceased human remains to a cemetery,
17    crematory or other place of final disposition shall be
18    under the immediate direct supervision of a licensee unless
19    otherwise permitted by this Section. The transportation of
20    deceased human remains that are embalmed or otherwise
21    prepared and enclosed in an appropriate container to some
22    other place that is not the place of final disposition,
23    such as another funeral home or common carrier, or to a
24    facility that shares common ownership with the
25    transporting funeral home may be performed under the
26    general supervision of a licensee, but the supervision need

 

 

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1    not be immediate or direct.
2        (d) The administering and conducting of, or assuming
3    responsibility for administering and conducting of, at
4    need funeral arrangements.
5        (e) The assuming custody of, transportation, providing
6    shelter, protection and care and disposition of deceased
7    human remains and the furnishing of necessary funeral
8    services, facilities and equipment.
9        (f) Using in connection with a name or practice the
10    word "funeral director", "undertaker", "mortician",
11    "funeral home", "funeral parlor", "funeral chapel", or any
12    other title implying that the person is engaged in the
13    practice of funeral directing.
14    Within the existing scope of the practice of funeral
15directing or funeral directing and embalming, only a licensed
16funeral director, a licensed funeral director and embalmer, or
17a licensed funeral director and embalmer intern under the
18restrictions provided for in this Code, and not any other
19person employed or contracted by the licensee, may engage in
20the following activities at-need: (1) have direct contact with
21consumers and explain funeral or burial merchandise or services
22or (2) negotiate, develop, or finalize contracts with
23consumers. This paragraph shall not be construed or enforced in
24such a manner as to limit the functions of persons regulated
25under the Illinois Funeral or Burial Funds Act, the Illinois
26Pre-Need Cemetery Sales Act, the Cemetery Oversight Act, the

 

 

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1Cemetery Care Act, the Cemetery Association Act, the Illinois
2Insurance Code, or any other related professional regulatory
3Act nor shall it preclude an owner, as defined within this Act,
4from having personal contact with consumers while a licensed
5funeral director is present.
6    The practice of funeral directing shall not include the
7phoning in of obituary notices, ordering of flowers for the
8funeral, or reporting of prices on the firm's general price
9list as required by the Federal Trade Commission Funeral Rule
10by nonlicensed persons, or like clerical tasks incidental to
11the act of making funeral arrangements.
12    The making of funeral arrangements, at need, shall be done
13only by licensed funeral directors or licensed funeral
14directors and embalmers. Licensed funeral director and
15embalmer interns may, however, assist or participate in the
16arrangements under the direct supervision of a licensed funeral
17director or licensed funeral director and embalmer.
18(Source: P.A. 96-1463, eff. 1-1-11; 97-1130, eff. 8-28-12.)
 
19    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
20becoming law.