Colorado governor signs bill to more strictly regulate funeral homes after years of abuse
Colorado's funeral home industry, which has been mired in high-profile scandals in recent years, will be governed by new rules after Governor Jared Polis signed three bills into law Friday.
The measures impose new licensing requirements on funeral homes, mandate regular inspections of these facilities, and expand oversight of non-transplantable tissue banks.
"When a family is grieving the loss of a loved one, the last thing they should worry about is the reliability and professionalism of those entrusted with the care of the departed person," Polis said in a statement through a spokesperson.
Among the bills signed into law Friday was Senate Bill 173, which ends Colorado's status as the only state in the nation that does not require licensure. Licenses would be required for funeral directors, embalmers, maritime professionals, crematory operators and natural restoration specialists.
To obtain a license, candidates must apply, pay a fee and pass a criminal background check. To be licensed, funeral directors, maritime professionals and embalmers must obtain a degree from an approved maritime school, pass the appropriate sections of the national exam and complete on-the-job training for one year or more.
The bill also provides a "grandfathering" option for those who are already working in funeral homes but have not met the new requirements, which are set to take effect in 2027. To get a temporary license, applicants must either pass a national standardized exam or show that they have 4,000 hours of experience in their field, which is about two years, pass a background check, and have some of their work peer-reviewed.
The legislation was sponsored by Sen. Dylan Roberts, D-Frisco, Rep. Matt Soper, R-Delta, Rep. Brianna Titone, D-Arvada, and Sen. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs.
House Bill 1335, which was also signed into law Friday, requires the state to conduct routine inspections of funeral homes and crematoriums. It has the same sponsors.
"Collectively, these laws will help restore faith in this valuable industry and ensure that the remains of Coloradans are treated with care, dignity and respect," Roberts said in a statement.
The governor also signed Bill 1254, which expands rules for the state's non-transplant tissue banks, including record-keeping requirements and a ban on the purchase of human remains. It also allows donors to restrict the sale of their remains.
Colorado has historically had some of the weakest regulations for funeral homes in the country.
In 2020, two funeral home owners in Montrose were charged with dozens of times transferring bodies or body parts to third parties for research without the relatives' knowledge.
That same year, a woman reported receiving ashes from a funeral home in Leadville that she thought were too large for her 5-pound child. It turned out that the ashes included the remains of another, larger person, as well as scrap metal, an earring fragment and surgical staples. The operator, who also ran a funeral home in Silverthorne, pleaded guilty last year to a misdemeanor charge of mixing cremated remains.
In 2023, about 200 more decomposing bodies were found at the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, about two hours south of Denver.
Most recently, a former Denver funeral home owner was arrested on charges that he kept a woman's corpse in the back of a hearse for two years and stored the cremated remains of 35 people.