The Bereaved consumers Bill Of Rights Act is coming up for a vote in a Congressional Committee on Wed 7.21.10. This is an Important Congressional Vote for historic cemetery and death care reform.

The Bereaved Consumers Protection Act is in the the legislative process in the US Congress.

Recent Cemetery Scandals could have been prevented if this bill had been in effect. Those are the Burr Oak Cemetery Scandal, The Eden Memorial Park Scandal and the recent Scandal at Arlington National Cemetery.

World's Largest Funeral Corporation has had a cemetery Scandal, like Bur Oak

Cemeteries often have little regulation  and get away with price gouging. Recently I helped a Friend with a a grave site purchase and because there was no Law I could do nothing about the $4700.00 Price Gouging. This was a corporate ,NYE:SCI, Service Corporation International cemetery,  price gouging.

I have issued a Call to Action on the Wed, 7.21.10. possible committee vote.

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Snppet From YourFuneralGuy.wordpress.com:

Snippet From NFDA Facebook Page:

The NFDA HAS CALLED FOLKS TO ACTION ON THEIR FACE BOOK PAGE

via www.facebook.com

Funeral Industry, Funeral News, Funeral Blog By Your Funeral Guy

The Bereaved Consumers Bill Of Rights Act is Moving Through Congress

One would hope that congressman Joe Barton would keep his Mouth shut at this next hearing as he has seemed to put his foot in his mouth last time the committee met on this, and when he spoke out on the BP Oil spill!

THE ICCFA is against this legislation, the Funeral Consumers Alliance is for it, along with the NFDA.

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The  Bereaved Consumer Bill of Rights Act is moving toward passage in the House of Representatives. The bill will bring cemeteries and third party providers under the FTC(Federal Trade Commission) Funeral Rule. This bill will bring openness and change to the Funeral Industry, by keeping the providers honest. It will go along way to stopping a Scandal like the one one at the Burr Oak Cemetery near Chicago in July 2009.

The Bill was marked up to the Full House Committee, Yesterday.

Here is Congressman Bobby Rush’s opening statement at March 24th hearing:

“The first bill up for consideration is H.R. 3655, the Bereaved Consumer’s Bill of Rights Act. I authored this bill, which was introduced on September 25, 2009.

H.R. 3655 directs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to promulgate rules requiring ALL cemetery, crematoria, and mausoleum owners to provide clear and conspicuous disclosures and pricing information about their products and services, including costly pre-need contracts, memorials, burial rights, grave liners, and vaults. These owners would also be required to produce and retain existing records pertaining to the location, date, and rights associated with each internment, inurnment, or entombment of human remains.

H.R. 3655 makes misrepresentations of Federal, state, and local requirements and the improper tying of goods and services out to be violations of the FTC Act regarding unfair or deceptive acts or practices.

H.R. 3655 does not preempt state laws or actions. It would enable states’ attorney generals to bring civil actions on behalf of state residents in federal District Court for compliance enforcement and for money damages and restitution as deemed appropriate by the Court.

This is a good bill that establishes federal minimums to protect vulnerable consumers from being taken advantage of and levels the playing field between discrete segments of the funeral goods and services industry, which consumers perceive as being a single “one-stop shop” marketplace. Accordingly, I respectfully urge my colleagues to support the Bereaved Consumer’s Bill of Rights Act.

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The Federal Trade Commision (FTC)in 2008 found funeral homes to be out of compliance with the law. The most basic compliance under the funeral rule is to give each customer a general price list and show the customer a casket price list.

Many funeral homes have little regard for the law only the money

FTC enforcement of the Funeral Rule  is usually  minimal. There is no excuse for these violations. Funeral Directors know the law and as shown below often have little regard for it.

Technorati Tags: federal trade commission, ftc, funeral, funeral homes, funeral industry, Funeral News, funeral rule, law, money, Violations

Here is a “first news report” on a hearing  that took place in Congress today on National Legislation coming in response to the Burr Oak Cemetery Scandal.  Congressman Bobby Rush had a hearing today January 27th 2009, on the Bereaved Consumers Bill of Rights Act. The bill is H.R.3655.

NEWS-Hearing on Cemetery Reform in Washington DC today

2009 Burr Oak Cemetery Scandal inspired National Cemetery Reform Legislation

“WASHINGTON–In the wake of hundreds of grave desecrations at the historic Burr Oak Cemetery in south suburban Alsip, House Democrat Bobby Rush of Chicago wants to bolster federal consumer protections governing the sale of funeral goods and services.

CLICK HERE TO VISIT BEREAVED CONSUMERS PROTECTION ACT.COM  FOR ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ON THIS BILL.

Rush today led a congressional hearing to examine whether the FTC, which regulates funeral homes, should have its purview expanded to include cemeteries, crematories and sellers of caskets, urns, monuments and markers.

Most cemeteries operate as non-profits, a realm the FTC generally does not investigate, said Charles Harwood, deputy director of its Bureau of Consumer Protection. Under Rush’s proposal, the FTC would take oversight of such cemeteries.
The Burr Oak Cemetery made national news in July when it was learned that hundreds of corpses had been unearthed over several years anddumped into a weeded area of the cemetery or double-stacked in other graves.

The cemetery is the resting place of Emmett Till, whose murder helpedfuel the civil rights movement, and blues singer Dinah Washington,among other notables.

A Service Corporation International Cemetery, 500 graves desecrated, was a contributing factor in the Legislation

Rush said the horrific activities at Burr Oak were not an aberration,citing new allegations of desecrating graves and reselling plots later surfaced in Mission Hills, Calif., and DeKalb County, Ga.

“Just because death all too often comes like a thief in the night,” he said, “bereaved consumers should not be left wondering who, in fact,was the real thief: death or the cemetery salesperson.”

Patricia Brown Holmes, a retired judge who led an Illinois task forcethat led to tougher, just-enacted laws governing cemeteries in thestate, spoke in favor of Rush’s measure.

Holmes said the average consumer thinks of a funeral home and cemetery as one in the same, even though under federal laws, funeral homes areheavily regulated and cemeteries are not.

The National Funeral Directors Association also supports the measure,said Randall Earl, who has a funeral home and crematory in Decatur,Ill.

NFDA Eecutive Earl wante to be sure Wallmart Caskets are Covered

He told the panel that existing FTC rules pertaining to funeral homes do not cover casket sellers such as Wal-Mart and amazon.com, so the association wants the rules updated to cover them.

Under Rush’s proposal, new FTC regulations would require cemeteries andthe other newly covered sectors of the death-care industry to provide pre-sale price disclosures.

Misrepresentations would be prohibited and clear contracts itemizing goods, services and prices would be required.

A representative of the International Cemetery, Cremation and FuneralAssociation said cemeteries and funeral homes were best regulated at the state level.  Paul M. Elvig said most cemeteries operated as nonprofits, including those run by religious, municipal and fraternal organizations, and the new regulations would disproportionately affect them “in ways that would never pass a cost/benefit analysis.”

Rush’s bill, called the Bereaved Consumer’s Bill of Rights Act, has five co-sponsors.”
–Katherine Skiba WGN 720-via mobile.wgnradio.com

Funeral Industry|Funeral News Blog by Your Funeral Guy

House Subcommittee on Commerce and Energy held the hearing.

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The National Funeral Directors Association, NFDA, has given some support to the Bereaved Consumer Bill of Rights Act(also known as the Rush Bill, and the Bereaved Consumers Protection act) The bill which ends some funeral deceptions, and brings cemeteries under the funeral rule, contains much needed funeral and cemetery reform including some unbundling of funeral packages.

The extend of the NFDA’s Executive Board endorsement is not known at this time. It will be made available shortly.

“The NFDA Executive Board also voiced its support of the Bereaved Consumers Protection Act, referred to as the Rush Bill after U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) who introduced the bill on Sept. 22. Rush said the bill is designed to strengthen funeral home and cemetery regulation. Rush, who is chairman of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, said his bill is in response to the allegations made at Burr Oak Cemetery. In general, the bill calls on the FTC to “prescribe rules prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the provision of funeral services.”-MemorialBusinessJournal

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