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2010 SESSION

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Senate Committee on Education and Health
Subcommittee Health Licensing

Quayle (Chairman), Lucas, Martin, Barker, Northam

Clerk: Jocelyn R. Lance
Staff: Jessica Eades, Brenda Edwards
Date of Meeting: February 25, 2010
Time and Place: Thursday, 1/2 hr. after Senate adjournment, 3 E Conf. Rm, G.A.B.

H.B. 201 Human remains; proper handling by funeral establishment.

Patron: Alexander

Funeral services; handling of human remains. Provides that, upon taking custody of a dead human body, a funeral service establishment shall maintain the body in a manner that provides complete coverage and is resistant to leakage or spillage. If the body is to be stored for more than 48 hours prior to disposition, the establishment shall maintain the body in refrigeration or have the body embalmed and, if the body is to be stored for more than 10 days at a location other than the establishment, disclose the location where the body is to be stored and the method of storage. This bill includes a provision stating that a body shall not be embalmed and shall be refrigerated if the family of the deceased objects to embalming on the grounds that it conflicts with their religious tenets or practices.

H.B. 278 Human remains; provider to maintain refrigeration at 40 degrees or embalmed if stored over 48 hours.

Patron: Albo

Funeral services; disposition of remains. Requires a funeral services provider to either embalm or refrigerate human remains within 48 hours of the receipt of such remains, and clarifies that a body shall not be embalmed and shall be refrigerated if the family of the deceased objects to embalming on the grounds that it conflicts with their religious tenets or practices. The bill also provides that a person designated in a signed and notarized writing shall take priority over next of kin in making funeral arrangements, and clarifies procedures where the deceased has designated a person to make arrangements for his funeral and disposition of his remains on a U.S. Department of Defense Record of Emergency Data.

H.B. 319 Funeral services; prerequisites for cremation.

Patron: Alexander

Funeral services; prerequisites for cremation.  Removes the 24-hour waiting period as a possible prerequisite for cremation, and replaces it with a form of identification other than visual identification by next of kin, to be determined by the Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers in regulations.

H.B. 382 Funeral services; burial power of attorney.

Patron: Sherwood

Funeral services. Provides that when a person dies while on active military duty and has designated an individual to make arrangements for his funeral and disposition of his remains on a U.S. Department of Defense Record of Emergency Data, the designee shall be responsible for making such arrangements.

H.B. 650 Funeral services; disputes between next of kin.

Patron: Armstrong

Funeral services; disputes between next of kin.  Provides a judicial process for determining who makes the decision for the arrangements for a decedent's funeral or the disposition of his remains when there is a dispute between the next of kin.