01/18/2012

Legislative Update

Prepared by John T. McGough

REPEAL OF OHIO ESTATE TAX EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1, 2013

On June 30, 2011, Governor John Kasich signed into law Ohio’s biennial budget which funds state government from July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2013.  The Governor touted that he and the Legislature were able to close a projected $8 billion deficit without raising taxes. Many Statehouse observers have stated that this budget made some of the most far reaching changes to how state and local governments are funded including increased privatization of government services.

From OFDA’s perspective, the most significant change affecting owners of funeral homes is the repeal o fOhio’s estate tax.  The repeal has a delayed implementation date of applying to any estates with dates of death on or after January 1, 2013. This delayed effective date means that local governments will not likely feel much impact during the current biennium but may in the future.

OFDA LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES

Disclosure of personal information of deceased insured

The OFDA has received the Legislative Service Commission’s draft of legislation which is a life insurance disclosure law. The sponsor of the legislation is Senator Tim Schaffer (R-Lancaster).  Senator Schaffer was also the sponsor of S.B. 196 (preneed funeral contract consumer protections) from last session which was enacted into Ohio law.

Our current legislative proposal will require life insurers to disclose insurance policy information to a funeral home handling an at-need funeral that has the consent of the person holding the right of disposition.  The bill should be introduced in the very near future.

Miscellaneous revisions to Ohio’s funeral directing law

The Legislative Service Commission is drafting legislation which makes several revisions to Ohio’s funeral directing laws. Our legislative sponsor is likely to be Representative Bob Hackett (R-London) who is a former Madison County Commissioner who has a background in financial management and health insurance. Below is a summary of the bill’s provisions:

1. Alkaline Hydrolysis.  Throughout Chapter 4717, there are a number of additions to establish the framework to license alkaline hydrolysis. Alkaline hydrolysis will be treated very similar to cremation.  However, as with cremation, we would have the Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors (“the Board”) separately license and regulate alkaline hydrolysis facilities.
2. Inactive Status.  An addition is made to Section 4717.05(G) and (H) that would allow funeral directors and embalmers to place their licenses on inactive status.
3. Funeral Home License Applications.  One issue that has arisen with the Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors over the past several months is the issue of funeral home license applications. Specifically, the issue arises when a funeral home is sold and the new owner files a new funeral home license application with the Board.  We want to be able to allow the funeral home to continue to operate until the Board meets to review the application.  However, it is not clear whether they are operating under the old funeral home license or whether they are operating under the application for a new license.  The changes that have been made to Section 4717.06(E) and 4717.11 would make it clear that the funeral home would be able to continue to operate until its application is reviewed based upon the application it makes to the Board.
4. Courtesy Card License.  We have added provisions to Section 4717.10(B) – (D) to allow the Board to issue Courtesy Card licenses to funeral directors in bordering states which would authorize them to conduct limited funeral related activities in Ohio. 
5. Emergency License.  A provision has been added to the exemption section provided in Section 4717.12 to add an exemption to funeral directors from other states that come to Ohio and work with Ohio funeral directors during a declared emergency.  
6. Cremation Identification.  Due to the recent case involving a Columbus funeral home that was cited by the Board and closed down for six months because it had relied upon a coroner’s mistaken identification in a cremation case, we have added provisions to Section 4717.24 to spell out a funeral homes obligation to arrange an identification and the types of identification that satisfy the statute.  Under this new provision, a funeral home will no longer be a guarantor of the identity of the decedent.  Rather, the funeral home is only obligated under the statute to carry out the visual identification of the decedent’s remains.  The statute will also allow the funeral home to rely upon the identification made by a coroner.

Use of Purple Lights in a funeral procession

The last issue I have been working on is the OFDA suggestion to amend Ohio law (or rules) to authorize funeral home vehicles and escort vehicles in a funeral procession to use flashing, rotating, oscillating and/or strobe-type lights that are either amber or purple. I have talked with Captain Shawn Davis who is with the Office of the Superintendent of the Ohio Department of Public Safety about this issue. He is open to discussing ways to make funeral processions safer, but now that Ohio law authorizes law enforcement vehicles to use blue lights in addition to red lights, he feels that the purple color is too close to blue and would not be acceptable. The OFDA needs to decide how it would like to proceed given this concern.