Rotting bodies and fake ashes spur Colorado lawmakers to pass funeral home regulations

DENVER (AP) — Colorado lawmakers passed a bill Monday to overhaul the state’s lax funeral home oversight, joining a second measure aimed at regulating the industry that passed last week. Both follow a series of horrific incidents, including sold body parts, fake ashes and the discovery of 190 decaying bodies.

The cases have devastated hundreds of already grieving families and shed a glaring spotlight on the state’s funeral home regulations, some of the weakest in the nation. The bill passed Monday will head to Gov. Jared Polis’s desk after the House considers a minor change by the Senate.

The legislation would give regulators greater enforcement power over funeral homes and require the routine inspection of facilities including after one shutters. The second bill, which is already headed to the governors’ desk, would require funeral directors and other industry roles to be licensed. Those qualifications would include background checks, degrees in mortuary science, passage of a national examination and work experience.

The legislation arrived after the 190 decomposing bodies were found at a funeral homes’ bug-infested facility about two hours south of Denver. Many families were left wondering whether the cremated remains they received were actually their child’s or parent’s. Some have learned they weren’t.

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