Fabulous #14: New Jersey Governor Legalizes Natural Organic Reduction

It’s been 18 months since New Jersey Assemblyman Herb Conaway, Jr. introduced Bill A4085, which would legalize the process of natural organic reduction (NOR)  in his state. During that time, Conaway, who is now a U.S. Representative, waited patiently as his bill traveled through four committees, sailed through both chambers of legislature, and sat on the desk of Gov. Phil Murphy for three full months.

On September 11, 2025, Murphy finally added his signature to the document, officially making New Jersey the 14th state to legalize natural organic reduction and “controlled supervised decomposition of human remains.” According to the bill, the law should take effect on the “first day of the 10th month following enactment,” which would be July 1, 2026.

Wells and cemeteries

The State Board of Mortuary Science of New Jersey will oversee NOR facilities, practitioners, and operating rules and regulations. According to NorthJersey.com, NOR facilities will have to be “annually registered and be inspected and approved by the Department of Environmental Protection, with the process under personal supervision, direction, management and control of a person duly licensed as a practitioner of mortuary science or duly licensed as a funeral director.” 

The act also specifies that facilities will have to be located at an “appropriate distance from drinking water wells” and “funeral directors will have to make sure people know a deceased person can still be placed in a cemetery even after the natural organic reduction.” These two provisions were added to the bill by the Department of Environmental Protection and the New Jersey Cemetery Board, respectively.

36 states to go

New Jersey is the second state to legalize NOR in 2025. Georgia’s NOR law was signed in May and went into effect on July 1. Since it was first approved in Washington in 2019, one to three states have approved legislation allowing this eco-friendly disposition method each year, including Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Oregon, and Vermont. NOR legislation is pending in 11 other states. 

Oklahoma House Bill #1029 which would have extended the “Sunset of the Oklahoma Funeral Board” for one year, among other issues, was vetoed when it reached Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt’s desk.

Update — After this article was written the Oklahoma legislature went back to work and passed House Bill 2286 which extends the Oklahoma Funeral Board until 2029.  Governor Stitt did not sign nor veto that bill letting it silently become law.  We are continuing to run this Funeral Director Daily article that was composed before that law passed because the issues of why the Governor vetoed the previous bill are, in my opinion, still relevant.

This article from Oklahoma Public Radio makes this comment about the veto, “The veto cancels a one-year extension of the board’s sunset. State agencies often have sunset dates to ensure they remain necessary and effective.”

That same article also makes this statement, ” (the veto) effectively dissolves the board, and unless other legislation revives it, (Oklahoma Funeral Board executive Tyler) Stiles said it’s unclear who will be in charge of licensing funeral homes, crematories, funeral directors and embalmers.”

Note — New legislation did revive the board as mentioned in the Update.

The following is Governor Stitt’s published reasoning for vetoing the bill:

“Pursuant to the authority vested in me by Section 11 of Article VI of the Oklahoma Constitution, I have vetoed Enrolled House Bill 1029. HB 1029 would extend the life of the Oklahoma Funeral Board—a state agency that, by now, should be consolidated under a more appropriate umbrella. For too long, the Funeral Board has shielded the funeral industry from meaningful competition in the sale of caskets, urns, and other funeral related merchandise and services. These barriers keep prices artificially high for grieving families. Instead of modernizing, the Board has preserved outdated regulations and entangled businesses in unnecessary red tape. Before granting another sunset extension, the Legislature should seriously evaluate where this Board belongs and what its core duties should be. Until the Funeral Board becomes more accountable and responsive to legislative oversight, its continuation should not be rubber-stamped. For these reasons, I have vetoed Enrolled House Bill 1029.”

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  Living in Minnesota I don’t know the full actions behind this bill and the veto.  However, it appears to me that Governor Stitt’s published reasoning portrays a sense that he believes that funeral directors are too protective of their businesses and that that protectionism is interfering with the public consumer’s ability to purchase Death Care choices in a free and open market.

What is great about the freedom in America is that any right or guarantee not expressed, or added to by legislation, in our  country’s founding documents becomes an issue of the individual states. . . . that’s why most funeral home rules and regulations are state regulations.

It’s why in some states you cannot own a cemetery and a funeral home. . . .Or in some states why you cannot serve food in your funeral business. . . . .Or in some states why you need a college degree to practice mortuary science and other states you don’t need that degree. . .  And, I think how those rulings come to be state regulations is important — the decisions are made closer to the people who must abide by them . . . . instead of in Washington, DC.

In my opinion, in today’s day and age when you can purchase almost anything online a regulatory barrier of having to be a licensed funeral home to sell a casket or urn to a consumer would certainly be looked at as a regulation that stifles competition.  It’s probably a rule or regulation that has out-grown its purpose.

If that is one of the issues causing the non-renewal of the funeral licensing board I would suggest that Oklahoma’s funeral homes have a visit with the governor.  Without some type of compromise it looks like Oklahoma may be on its way to non-regulation of the funeral profession and that is certainly not a good look for the profession nor a way to look out for the funeral consumers of Oklahoma.

More news from the world of Death Care:

Enter your e-mail below to join the 3,164 others who receive Funeral Director Daily articles daily:

“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”

Oklahoma Governor Vetoes Extension for State’s Funeral Board, Effectively Dismantling Agency

In a move that is currently rippling through Oklahoma’s deathcare industry, Governor Kevin Stitt has vetoed House Bill 1029, effectively dissolving the Oklahoma Funeral Board—the agency responsible for regulating funeral homes, crematories, embalmers, and funeral directors. This decision leaves the state’s funeral professionals without clear oversight and raising concerns about the future of funeral service standards and consumer protections.

The veto also intersects with ongoing debates over the sale of caskets and other funeral merchandise — namely, Oklahoma’s “protectionist” casket law that prohibits anyone but licensed funeral directors from selling caskets to consumers. This contentious regulation has been in place for more than a century and has been upheld by federal courts in multiple lawsuits.

Creating a regulatory vacuum

The Oklahoma Funeral Board, comprising two full-time and two part-time employees, has been the cornerstone of funeral service regulation in the state. With the veto of HB 1029, the board’s authority is set to expire, and unless new legislation reinstates it, the state could find itself without a regulatory body overseeing funeral services.

Tyler Stiles, the executive director of the Oklahoma Funeral Board, expressed uncertainty about the future.

“I don’t know of any contingency plan of any of these rules going to another agency at this time. I haven’t seen that,” Stiles told Oklahoma’s KOSU news outlet. “So my understanding is anyone could embalm a body or cremate a body without any training or education.”

Brandon Lee, President of the Oklahoma Funeral Directors Association, emphasized the importance of the board’s role.

“The Oklahoma Funeral Board exists for one clear purpose: to protect the public by ensuring that funeral service professionals meet the highest ethical and professional standards,” Lee told KOSU. “This work is not simply bureaucratic. It involves deeply personal and sensitive moments in people’s lives – moments that deserve integrity, compassion, and oversight tailored to the unique nature of our profession.” 

Kudos for the veto?

Governor Stitt’s veto message criticized the Funeral Board for maintaining outdated regulations that hinder competition: 

HB 1029 would extend the life of the Oklahoma Funeral Board— a state agency that, by now, should be consolidated under a more appropriate umbrella. For too long, the Funeral Board has shielded the funeral industry from meaningful competition in the sale of caskets, urns, and other funeral related merchandise and services. These barriers keep prices artificially high for grieving families. Instead of modernizing, the Board has preserved outdated regulations and entangled businesses in unnecessary red tape. Before granting another sunset extension, the Legislature should seriously evaluate where this Board belongs and what its core duties should be. Until the Funeral Board becomes more accountable and responsive to legislative oversight, its continuation should not be rubber-stamped.

The Institute for Justice, a libertarian public interest law firm, applauded the veto, viewing it as a step toward free market reforms in the funeral industry. 

“Creating artificial barriers to selling caskets is akin to creating a death tax for all Oklahomans,” wrote The Institute for Justice Legislative Counsel Sam Hooper on the organization’s website. “Restricting supply drives up prices. In an industry which everyone will eventually encounter, Oklahomans shouldn’t have to pay more when they say their final goodbyes to their loved ones.” 

Hooper also highlighted that Oklahoma’s average funeral costs are about $800 higher than neighboring states, attributing this disparity to restrictive licensure requirements that limit who can sell caskets.

What’s next

While HB 1029’s veto dismantles the current regulatory framework, the Oklahoma Legislature has an opportunity to reshape funeral industry oversight, according to both KOSU and The Institute for Justice. Senate Bill 559, for instance, proposes allowing individuals without a funeral director’s license to sell funeral merchandise directly to the public, potentially reducing costs and increasing consumer choice.

As the state navigates this transitional period, funeral professionals and consumers alike face uncertainty. The dissolution of the Funeral Board raises questions about maintaining service quality and ethical standards in the absence of formal oversight. Simultaneously, the push for deregulation and market competition aims to make funeral services more accessible and affordable.

Maryland Governor Orders Review of Funeral Board After Crematory Controversy

Governor Wes Moore is not playing around when it comes to deathcare in Maryland. Just weeks after Heaven Bound Cremation Services was shut down in the interest of public safety after eight years of issues, Moore has forced the resignation of three members of the Maryland State Board of Morticians and Funeral Directors and ordered an indepth review of the all-volunteer team that in his opinion has “failed” families. 

“Firstly, these allegations are despicable, and those responsible need to be held accountable,” Moore announced last week. “I know the board is independent, but they have failed these families and I share in their outrage, and I stand with them in demanding justice. There is an active investigation into this matter, and these families deserve better.”

Based on the information that has come to light since the board took emergency action to shutter the embattled Charles County crematory on January 23, 2025, Moore’s outrage is justified. As Connecting Directors recently shared, the closure of Heaven Bound stemmed from an inspection that found 11 issues ranging from an inoperable retort to three decomposing bodies — one of which had been in the facility since a March 2024 inspection. The facility had amassed a lengthy list of violations since its opening in 2016, including some that mandated random, unannounced inspections by the board. 

Despite these findings, Heaven Bound was only inspected a handful of times over the years. The egregious body storage issues noted in the March 2024 inspection had only worsened by the time the board’s inspector revisited the facility in January 2025. Last week, the executive director of the Maryland Board of Morticians and Funeral Directors, who has only served in the position for 14 months, admitted that inspections were “backlogged.”

“When I began my position, I noticed we were backlogged approximately 300 establishments in inspections,” said director Erika Malone. “132 have been completed in the last year.”

Malone was one of several state officials, morticians, and funeral directors who were questioned by the Maryland House Health and Government Operations Committee. The committee was also told that some crematories haven’t been inspected in nearly 10 years. 

Malone added that the “board did no inspections statewide for two years before the issues at Heaven Bound were exposed” because Maryland’s “lone investigator was assigned office duty for that period,”, according to WJLA ABC7 News.

Three of the 11 executive members and officers of the board have resigned “under pressure” from Gov. Moore and have been removed from the entity’s website. The site now lists the eight remaining board members as well as executive director Malone, an administrative assistant, a licensing coordinator, and the aforementioned “lone” investigator/inspector.

Charles P. Scheeler was asked by Gov. Moore to lead the review, which will involve a “thorough assessment of the board’s structure and operations and whether changes to law or regulations are warranted,” says the Southern Maryland News. Scheeler is a former federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.