Colorado Will Finally License Funeral Home Directors, Conduct Routine Inspections

Gov. Jared Polis on Friday signed a trio of bills that will bring Colorado in line with other states in regulating the funeral home and mortuary industry. SB24-173 will require, for the first time, that funeral home directors and people holding other industry jobs obtain licenses by passing background checks, earning degrees in mortuary science and apprenticing under a seasoned worker. The second bill, HB24-1335, requires state regulators to conduct routine inspections of facilities — something they have never had the power to do. “It’s time to professionalize the funeral home industry in Colorado,” Polis said at a news conference Friday. The governor’s signatures come after a string of horrifying cases across the state in recent years, including the illegal sale of body parts, findings of hundreds of decomposing bodies and the dispersal of fake ashes to grieving families. Colorado’s regulations over the funeral home industry have long been the weakest in the nation. The state had been the only one in the country that didn’t license funeral directors or require some certification.