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 Instead of modernizing, the Board has preserved outdated regulations and entangled businesses in unnecessary red tape.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.

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