[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 135 (Saturday, November 20, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11800-S11801]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. DODD:
  S. 3023. A bill to improve funeral home, cemetery, and crematory 
inspection systems, to establish consumer protections relating to 
funeral service contracts, and for other purposes; to the Committee on 
Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Federal Death 
Care Inspection and Disclosure Act of 2004, a bill which I believe will 
go a long way in restoring the trust that Americans place in the 
funeral and death care industries.
  None of us like to think about death and dying. It is a painful and 
uncomfortable subject, and most Americans, understandably, choose not 
to confront matters related to the death of a loved one until the death 
actually occurs. And when a loved one does pass on, we turn to our 
friends and family to grieve. Certainly, the last thing anyone wants to 
do at such a painful time is to spend hours or days negotiating or 
shopping for a funeral, casket, or other goods and services. Instead, 
we leave most of these arrangements in the hands of funeral service 
providers, turning to them to ensure that our loved ones are cared for 
and treated with respect and dignity after their passing.
  We place a great deal of trust in funeral service providers. A 
funeral, after all, represents one of the largest purchases many 
consumers will ever make, just behind a home, college education, and a 
car. However, unlike these transactions, the purchase of funeral 
services is most often done under intense emotional duress, with very 
little time to spare, and without the benefit of the type of consumer 
information generally available when making such a large purchase. As a 
result, we trust funeral service providers to give us fair prices, to 
represent goods and services accurately, and to not take advantage of 
us during our moments of greatest grief and vulnerability.
  For the most part, this trust is well deserved. I have no doubt, that 
the majority of individuals working in the funeral industry are good 
men and women who practice their profession with the honor and gravity 
it demands. However, recent revelations of abuses in the industry have 
shown us that not all members of the death care industry are honest and 
upstanding. We all remember hearing recently of the discovery of over 
200 bodies strewn in the woods near a crematorium in Noble, GA. There 
is also evidence of desecration of graves and remains at cemeteries in 
Florida, California, Hawaii, and my own State of Connecticut. These 
incidents, as well as developments in the funeral industry as a whole, 
compel us to reexamine the regulatory structure we currently have in 
place for this industry.
  Currently, the death care industry is regulated by a patchwork of 
state and local laws. These regulations may have been sufficient years 
ago, but the character of the industry has changed substantially since 
many of these laws were passed. The industry has become surprisingly 
large and diverse. The death care industry generates annual revenues of 
over $15 billion and employs over 104,000 Americans. The 1990's saw the 
rise of multi-state ``consolidators'' who purchased local funeral homes 
across the country. Even for small local firms, the business has become 
increasingly complex. As more and more Americans travel and live in 
places far from where they were born, the industry has become one that 
frequently does business across state and county lines.
  There have also been changes in Americans' cultural expectations of 
funeral services. For example, the percentage of cremations has risen 
from 5 percent in the 1970's to 25 percent today. However, only 12 
States have substantive laws which cover cremation. In fact, in the 
case in Georgia I mentioned earlier, the crematorium in question was 
statutorily exempt from inspection, allowing the abuses to continue 
undiscovered.
  The only significant federal regulation of the industry exists in the 
Federal Trade Commission's Funeral Rule, promulgated nearly 20 years 
ago. Again, this rule has not kept up with the nature of the industry. 
Perhaps most importantly, the rule does not cover numerous sectors of 
the industry such as cemeteries, crematories, and casket makers. It 
also does not effectively regulate prepaid funeral contracts, which 
have become an increasingly popular option in recent years.
  In 2002, I chaired a hearing of the Subcommittee on Children and 
Families in which we examined developments in the industry and how they 
have impacted American families. Since that hearing, I have worked with 
both consumer and industry groups to craft legislation to protect 
Americans from potential abuse by funeral service providers. The 
Federal Death Care Inspection and Disclosure Act of 2004 would provide 
Federal funding to allow States to hire and train inspectors and give 
consumers the right to legal action against those who violate 
regulatory standards. In order to be eligible for funding, states would 
have to adhere to standards which are outlined in the legislation. The 
act would also codify and strengthen the existing FTC regulations 
governing licensing and

[[Page S11801]]

registration, record-keeping, inspection, resolution of consumer 
complaints, and enforcement of state laws in the industry. It would 
clarify regulations to prevent deceptive trade practices in the 
industry and ensure that consumers can make informed decisions as they 
make funeral arrangements. Finally, the FTC rules would be expanded to 
cover all segments of the death care industry.
  I am aware that as we are in the closing days of this Congress, we 
will not have the opportunity to pass this legislation this year. 
However, I would like to take this opportunity to raise this issue with 
my colleagues today, and I hope that we will be able to move on this 
issue when we reconvene for the 109th Congress. It is my firm belief 
that this bill will help both consumers and industry. Consumers will 
have the peace of mind knowing that they are being treated fairly 
during their time of grief and distress, while the industry will 
benefit from regaining the high level of consumer confidence and trust 
that it has traditionally enjoyed.
  I urge my colleagues to join me by supporting this legislation.
                                 ______