FIRST REGULAR SESSION
94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE WASSON.
Read 1st time February 7, 2007 and copies ordered printed.
D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To repeal sections 214.275, 214.340, 333.011, 333.121, and 333.221, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof five new sections relating to crematoriums.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Sections 214.275, 214.340, 333.011, 333.121, and 333.221, RSMo, are repealed and five new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 214.275, 214.340, 333.011, 333.121, and 333.221, to read as follows:
214.275. 1. No endowed care or nonendowed care cemetery shall be operated in this state unless the owner or operator thereof has a license issued by the division and complies with all applicable state, county or municipal ordinances and regulations.
2. It shall not be unlawful for a person who does not have a license to care for or maintain the cemetery premises, or to fulfill prior contractual obligations for the interment of human remains in burial spaces.
3. Applications for a license shall be in writing, submitted to the division on forms prescribed by the division. The application shall contain such information as the division deems necessary and be accompanied by the required fee.
4. Each license issued pursuant to sections 214.270 to 214.516 shall be renewed prior to the license renewal date established by the division. The division shall issue a new license upon receipt of a proper renewal application, trust fund report as required by section 214.340, and the required renewal fee. The required renewal fee shall be fifty dollars, plus an assessment for each interment, inurnment or other disposition of human remains at a cemetery for which a charge is made, as the division shall by rule determine, not to exceed ten dollars per such disposition in the case of an endowed care cemetery, and six dollars for such disposition in the case of a nonendowed care cemetery. The division shall mail a renewal notice to the last known address of the holder of the license prior to the renewal date. The holder of a license shall keep the division advised of the holder's current address. The license issued to the owner or operator of a cemetery which is not renewed within three months after the license renewal date shall be suspended automatically, subject to the right of the holder to have the suspended license reinstated within nine months of the date of suspension if the person pays the required reinstatement fee. Any license suspended and not reinstated within nine months of the suspension shall expire and be void and the holder of such license shall have no rights or privileges provided to holders of valid licenses. Any person whose license has expired may, upon demonstration of current qualifications and payment of required fees, be reregistered or reauthorized under the person's original license number.
5. The division shall grant or deny each application for a license pursuant to this section within ninety days after it is filed, and no prosecution of any person who has filed an application for such license shall be initiated unless it is shown that such application was denied by the division and the owner was notified thereof.
6. Upon the filing of a completed application, as defined by rule, the applicant may operate the business until the application is acted upon by the division.
7. Within thirty days after the sale or transfer of ownership or control of a cemetery, the transferor shall return his or her license to the division. A prospective purchaser or transferee of a cemetery shall file an application for a license at least thirty days prior to the sale or transfer of ownership or control of a cemetery and shall be in compliance with sections 214.270 to 214.516.
214.340. 1. Each operator of an endowed care cemetery shall maintain at an office in the cemetery or, if the cemetery has no office in the cemetery, at an office within a reasonable distance of the cemetery, the reports of the endowed care fund's operation for the preceding seven years. Each report shall contain, at least, the following information:
(1) Name and address of the trustee of the endowed care fund and the depository, if different from the trustee;
(2) Balance per previous year's report;
(3) Principal contributions received since previous report;
(4) Total earnings since previous report;
(5) Total distribution to the cemetery operator since the previous report;
(6) Current balance;
(7) A statement of all assets listing cash, real or personal property, stocks, bonds, and other assets, showing cost, acquisition date and current market value of each asset;
(8) Total expenses, excluding distributions to cemetery operator, since previous report; and
(9) A statement of the cemetery's total acreage and of its developed acreage.
2. Subdivisions (1) through (7) of the report described in subsection 1 above shall be certified to under oath as complete and correct by a corporate officer of the trustee. Subdivision (8) of such report shall be certified under oath as complete and correct by an officer of the cemetery operator. Both the trustee and cemetery operator or officer shall be subject to the penalty of making a false affidavit or declaration.
3. The report shall be placed in the cemetery's office within ninety days of the close of the trust's fiscal year. A copy of this report shall be filed by the cemetery operator with the division of professional registration [within ninety days of the close of the trust fund's fiscal year] as condition of license renewal as required by subsection 4 of section 214.275. The report shall not be sent to the state board of embalmers and funeral directors.
4. Each cemetery operator who establishes a segregated account pursuant to subsection 1 of section 214.385 shall file with the report required under subsection 1 of this section a segregated account report that shall provide the following information:
(1) The number of monuments, markers and memorials that have been deferred for delivery by purchase designation;
(2) The aggregate wholesale cost of all such monuments, markers and memorials; and
(3) The amount on deposit in the segregated account established pursuant to section 214.385, and the account number.
333.011. As used in this chapter, unless the context requires otherwise, the following terms have the meanings indicated:
(1) "Board", the state board of embalmers and funeral directors created by this chapter;
(2) "Embalmer", any individual licensed to engage in the practice of embalming;
(3) "Funeral director", any individual licensed to engage in the practice of funeral directing;
(4) "Funeral establishment", a building, place, crematory, or premises devoted to or used in the care and preparation for burial or transportation of the human dead and includes every building, place or premises maintained for that purpose or held out to the public by advertising or otherwise to be used for that purpose;
(5) "Person" includes a corporation, partnership or other type of business organization;
(6) "Practice of embalming", the work of preserving, disinfecting and preparing by arterial embalming, or otherwise, of dead human bodies for funeral services, transportation, burial or cremation, or the holding of oneself out as being engaged in such work;
(7) "Practice of funeral directing", engaging by an individual in the business of preparing, otherwise than by embalming, for the burial, disposal or transportation out of this state of, and the directing and supervising of the burial or disposal of, dead human bodies or engaging in the general control, supervision or management of the operations of a funeral establishment.
333.121. 1. The board may refuse to issue any certificate of registration or authority, permit or license required pursuant to this chapter for one or any combination of causes stated in subsection 2 of this section. The board shall notify the applicant in writing of the reasons for the refusal and shall advise the applicant of his right to file a complaint with the administrative hearing commission as provided by chapter 621, RSMo.
2. The board may cause a complaint to be filed with the administrative hearing commission as provided by chapter 621, RSMo, against any holder of any certificate of registration or authority, permit or license required by this chapter or any person who has failed to renew or has surrendered his certificate of registration or authority, permit or license for any one or any combination of the following causes:
(1) Use of any controlled substance, as defined in chapter 195, RSMo, or alcoholic beverage to an extent that such use impairs a person's ability to perform the work of any profession licensed or regulated by this chapter;
(2) The person has been finally adjudicated and found guilty, or entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, in a criminal prosecution under the laws of any state or of the United States, for any offense reasonably related to the qualifications, functions or duties of any profession licensed or regulated under this chapter, for any offense an essential element of which is fraud, dishonesty or an act of violence, or for any offense involving moral turpitude, whether or not sentence is imposed;
(3) Use of fraud, deception, misrepresentation or bribery in securing any certificate of registration or authority, permit or license issued pursuant to this chapter or in obtaining permission to take any examination given or required pursuant to this chapter;
(4) Obtaining or attempting to obtain any fee, charge, tuition or other compensation by fraud, deception or misrepresentation;
(5) Incompetency, misconduct, gross negligence, fraud, misrepresentation or dishonesty in the performance of the functions or duties of any profession licensed or regulated by this chapter;
(6) Violation of, or assisting or enabling any person to violate, any provision of this chapter, or of any lawful rule or regulation adopted pursuant to this chapter;
(7) Impersonation of any person holding a certificate of registration or authority, permit or license or allowing any person to use his or her certificate of registration or authority, permit, license or diploma from any school;
(8) Disciplinary action against the holder of a license or other right to practice any profession regulated by this chapter granted by another state, territory, federal agency or country upon grounds for which revocation or suspension is authorized in this state;
(9) A person is finally adjudged insane or incompetent by a court of competent jurisdiction;
(10) Assisting or enabling any person to practice or offer to practice any profession licensed or regulated by this chapter who is not registered and currently eligible to practice under this chapter;
(11) Issuance of a certificate of registration or authority, permit or license based upon a material mistake of fact;
(12) Failure to display a valid certificate or license if so required by this chapter or any rule promulgated hereunder;
(13) Violation of any professional trust or confidence;
(14) Use of any advertisement or solicitation which is false, misleading or deceptive to the general public or persons to whom the advertisement or solicitation is primarily directed;
(15) Violation of any of the provisions of chapter 193, RSMo, chapter 194, RSMo, or chapter 436, RSMo;
(16) Presigning a death certificate or signing a death certificate on a body not embalmed by, or under the personal supervision of, the licensee;
(17) Obtaining possession of or embalming a dead human body without express authority to do so from the person entitled to the custody or control of the body;
(18) Failure to execute and sign the [reverse side of a] death certificate on a body embalmed by, or under the personal supervision of, a licensee;
(19) Failure or refusal to properly guard against contagious, infectious or communicable diseases or the spread thereof;
(20) Willfully and through undue influence selling a funeral;
(21) Refusing to surrender a dead human body upon request by the next of kin, legal representative or other person entitled to the custody and control of the body.
3. After the filing of such complaint, the proceedings shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of chapter 621, RSMo. Upon a finding by the administrative hearing commission that the grounds, provided in subsection 2, for disciplinary action are met, the board may, singly or in combination, censure or place the person named in the complaint on probation on such terms and conditions as the board deems appropriate for a period not to exceed five years, or may suspend, for a period not to exceed three years, or revoke the license, certificate, or permit.
333.221. 1. Each member of the board shall receive as compensation an amount set by the board not to exceed [fifty] seventy dollars for each day devoted to the affairs of the board, and shall be entitled to reimbursement of his expenses necessarily incurred in the discharge of his official duties.
2. The board may employ such board personnel, [as defined in subdivision (4) of subsection 16 of section 620.010, RSMo, as is necessary for the administration of this chapter] as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this chapter. Board personnel shall include an executive secretary or comparable position, inspectors, investigators, attorneys, and secretarial support staff for these positions. The board may retain legal services by agreement with other agencies, including the attorney general, by employment of such personnel, or by agreement with private parties.
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