Ohio cemeteries say the legislature is trying to put them in a box.
For decades, they've been putting 30% of the money they collect from prepaid casket sales into protected trusts while spending the rest on operating costs. Senate Bill 224 would raise that requirement to 90%.
"I look at it from a consumer protection standpoint," said Sen. Jerry Cirino, R- Kirtland. "The whole purpose of the trusting is to protect the family. Consumers should have the same security regardless of where they do the pre-need contract."
But Kirk Roberts from the Ohio Cemetery Association says these changes "could make it impossible for not-for-profit cemeteries to sell funeral goods on a pre-need basis."
How prepaid casket plans work
When someone goes to buy a casket ahead of time in Ohio, part of their money gets put into a trust that the funeral home or cemetery can't touch. The idea is that this trust protects the buyer in case the business closes or the person changes their mind about where or how they want to be buried.
If someone spends $1,000 on a casket and later decides to be cremated, current law says funeral homes must transfer $900 toward that person's new plans, said Mike Dittoe, a lobbyist for Ohio's funeral homes. A cemetery would give that person $300.
"It is unconscionable to refund only 30% of prepaid funds ...," Dittoe wrote in a statement to lawmakers. "It would be arbitrary and capricious for the law to allow such disparate treatment simply because the consumer purchased the casket from a cemetery rather than a funeral home."
Cemeteries say the cash from caskets sales are baked into their business models, and they can't afford to keep most of the money in a trust.
"Cemeteries are for perpetuity, and we need every revenue option available to us," Rick Meade, president of Catholic Cemeteries in Ohio, told lawmakers in November.
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He also raised concerns about whether non-profit cemeteries can legally write these pre-need funeral contracts because of "their inability to sell insurance without losing their tax exemption under Internal Revenue Code."
And Roberts pointed out that the changes to pre-need sales could put cemeteries under the regulation of both the Department of Commerce and the Board of Embalmers.
"We had a little bit of a turf battle that went on," Cirino said. But he thinks it will all get sorted out in the new year.
What other changes to Ohio funerals may be coming
Aside from casket sales, the bill makes a number of legal changes that both cemeteries and funeral homes want to see.
SB 224 would let hearses use purple headlights during a funeral procession. It would let funeral directors request death certificates for infants born before 20 weeks. And it expands the reporting requirements for businesses that close and have unclaimed cremated remains.
"We agree on like 95% or 98% of the bill," Dittoe said.
But when it comes to how much money gets set aside, the groups may have to agree to disagree. Cirino said he thinks bringing everyone up to 90% is the right thing to do for consumers.
"We've been joking around the building how getting this bill passed is killing me, or someone is trying to bury this bill," Cirino said. "But terrible puns aside, I think this is a good clean-up bill for the entire industry."
Anna Staver is a reporter with the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau. It serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.
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