Jul 14, 2009 8:34 pm US/Central
Funeral Directors Push For Cemetery Regulations
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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The Rev. Jesse Jackson joined funeral home directors at Rainbow PUSH headquarters to call for new laws regulating cemeteries.
CBS
The Rev. Jesse Jackson and funeral directors are calling for regulations on cemeteries.
At a meeting at Rainbow PUSH headquarters Tuesday afternoon, funeral directors said they're not hearing enough about efforts to regulate cemeteries.
On Sunday, state Comptroller Dan Hynes, said he would start talking with lawmakers immediately about ways to hold cemeteries accountable.
But more than 30 funeral home directors and funeral directors told CBS 2's Pamela Jones they want to be included as the new laws are written.
Meanwhile in Springfield, a rapidly evolving legislative response to the Burr Oak Cemetery scandal could be voted upon as early as Wednesday, the top Senate Democrat told reporters Tuesday.
Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) said he was working in tandem with Gov. Quinn, Comptroller Dan Hynes and several lawmakers to fashion a legislative package that would tighten licensing standards for the cemetery industry.
While details remain fluid, Cullerton said the legislative package would "improve licensing, perhaps a return to a system where each cemetery plot is identified either on a death certificate or a contract, increase criminal penalties for what obviously is against the law now."
The funeral directors who spoke out Tuesday want the owners of cemeteries to be licensed, to be required to take classes and submit to inspections much like funeral directors do. And they also want the state to address the issue of burying the poor.
Right now, they say there's no funding left for public aid burials, which they say will lead to a body backlog.
"We're going to have to do something," said funeral director Charles Childs, Jr. "The Cook County morgue is responsible for any unclaimed remains, but I understand from Dr. Jones that she's receiving calls now to store remains."
"Given the number of bodies that could be backed up, it's going to create a need for refrigeration," Rev. Jackson said.
The owner of A.A. Raynor and Sons said depending on how a body is embalmed, it can be refrigerated for up to 30 days.
But if families with contracts at Burr Oak end up waiting to hold burials there, funeral home directors say there are serious questions about how and where all the remains will be stored.
To change cemeteries could cost those families a minimum of $3,000 right now.
The STNG Wire contributed to this report.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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