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1999 SESSION

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HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 745 Requesting the Board for Professional and Occupational Regulation, in conjunction with the Virginia Cemetery Board and the Virginia Cemetery Association, to study the extent to which consumers experience dissatisfaction with products and services provided by cemeteries in Virginia other than those subject to regulation by the Commonwealth and the means available for protecting the interests of consumers who engage the services of nonregulated cemeteries.

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 4, 1999 Agreed to by the Senate, February 18, 1999

WHEREAS, for-profit cemeteries in Virginia have been required for years to register with the Office of Consumer Affairs within the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which received and investigated consumer complaints relating to cemeteries; and

WHEREAS, the 1998 Session of the General Assembly created the Virginia Cemetery Board within the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation to license for-profit cemeteries and maintain the registration of sales personnel of such cemeteries, with the regulations of the Cemetery Board to become effective on July 1, 2000; and

WHEREAS, for-profit cemeteries account for only a small percentage of all cemeteries in Virginia as well as a small percentage of the annual interments made in the Commonwealth, leaving most cemeteries in Virginia and most consumer transactions involving cemeteries exempt from the new state regulatory requirements; and

WHEREAS, neither the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services nor the Virginia Cemetery Board has or will have regulatory authority over cemeteries that operate on a nonprofit basis; and

WHEREAS, national and state media attention has focused recently on problems within the cemetery industry, occurring in many instances at cemeteries that are not subject to governmental regulation; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the Board for Professional and Occupational Regulation, in conjunction with the Virginia Cemetery Board and the Virginia Cemetery Association, be requested to study the extent to which consumers experience dissatisfaction with products and services provided by cemeteries in Virginia other than those subject to regulation by the Commonwealth and the means available for protecting the interests of consumers who engage the services of nonregulated cemeteries.

All agencies of the Commonwealth shall provide assistance to the Board for this study, upon request.

The Board shall complete its work in time to submit its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the 2000 Session of the General Assembly as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for the processing of legislative documents.