ANNAPOLIS – State law does not require inspections of crematories, regulate their operating procedures, provide for oversight or protect consumers from negligence, said supporters of a crematory licensing bill Thursday.
“In the industry of death and dying here in the state, (cremation) is the only thing that isn’t addressed by regulation,” said Sen. John C. Astle, D-Anne Arundel, chief sponsor, at a hearing before the Senate Finance Committee.
With no means of educating the public on cremation procedures or regulating the industry, crematories could be commingling remains or inflating bills with no recourse, said Stephen Sklar, executive director of the Maryland Office of Cemetery Oversight.
The bill requires freestanding crematories and those affiliated with cemeteries to be regulated by Sklar’s office, and those affiliated with funeral homes to be regulated by the Maryland State Board of Morticians.
The bill would also regulate operating procedures, require inspections and institute a $300 licensing fee, with license renewal mandated every two years.
Sklar’s office would also publish information about consumer rights in the purchase of crematory services.
Opponents believe the bill is unnecessary because only one unrelated cremation complaint was registered in the state last year, said James J. Doyle, an Annapolis attorney representing the Maryland State Funeral Directors Association.
“If there are no complaints that we’re trying to address (with the bill),” Doyle said, “then we’re simply talking about regulation for regulation’s sake.”
Complaints are few, Sklar said, because there is no agency for people to contact.
“If you build a complaint center, they will come, if people know where to go,” he said.
Sklar’s office received 200 complaints and between 300 and 500 inquiries last year because his office now publishes a brochure which explains procedures and tells people whom to contact, he said.
Maryland has one of the highest cremation rates in the country, at 24 percent of all deaths. That number is expected to reach 40 percent in eight years, Sklar said.
The state has 24 crematories, 17 affiliated with funeral homes, six with cemeteries and one freestanding facility in Beltsville.
Anyone with proper zoning permits and environmental permits can open for business and start cremating bodies under current law, said John P. Chaplin, president of the Maryland State Board of Morticians.
But under current law, crematories affiliated with funeral homes already many of their activities regulated by the Board of Morticians through inspections, Doyle said.
“It simply is not correct that we have some sort of an outlaw industry, or a Wild West kind of industry out there, that’s not regulated . . . and needs to be reined in,” he said.
If passed, Maryland would join 25 states that currently regulate crematories.
Similar legislation passed unanimously in the House last year, but was rejected by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
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