Brief ⁽¹⁾

SB 214, as amended, requires the Kansas State Board of Mortuary Arts to license and regulate crematories, though one exemption is provided for the Kansas University Medical Center to the extent that donated remains for dissection, demonstration, or teaching purposes are cremated.

The bill specifies that the act takes precedence over conflicting Kansas laws governing the handling and disposition of dead human bodies and human remains when cremation is requested.

On and after January 1, 2002, no crematory may be operated that is not licensed by the Board. Among the regulatory requirements, explicitly set out by the bill and effective on that date, are the following:

• Crematories must have motorized mechanical devices for processing cremated remains and a holding facility for the retention of human remains awaiting cremation;
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• Crematories are prohibited from cremating bodies with pacemakers or other potentially hazardous implants in place; and
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• Crematories are prohibited from cremating bodies until in receipt of authorization forms.
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The Board is required to adopt rules and regulations necessary to implement the bill, including the conditions under which human remains of persons dying from infectious, contagious, communicable, or dangerous diseases may be transported to crematories. Such rules and regulations also are required to establish minimum standards regarding sanitation, required equipment, and fire protection.

The bill also amends KSA 2000 Supp. 65-1727 to allow the Board under certain circumstances to license embalmers via endorsement from another state. The fee limitations in the statute also are increased, and new fees are added for various crematory license and renewal, as well as endorsement and reciprocity fees for embalmers.

Background

Proponents for the bill, who included the Board and the Kansas Funeral Directors and Embalmers Association, said that 15 crematories are operating in Kansas currently and that projections suggested the cremation rate in the state could increase to as much as 65 percent by 2010. The proponents also said that at least 26 states currently regulate cremation.

The bill was approved by the Mount Hope Cemetery Company.

A fiscal note from the Division of the Budget said that the fee increases could generate, over a two-year period, an additional $3,920 for the Board's fee fund and $980 for the State General Fund.

The Senate Committee amendment is technical.

In addition to clarifying the applicability of this act over other Kansas law, that crematories, not operators of crematories, must be licensed, and that the authorizing agents must disclose the presence of a pacemaker or other hazardous implements in the human remains, the House Committee amendments also remove the restriction that cremation chambers be used exclusively for the cremation of human remains.

1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/fulltext.cgi