OFDA Legislation Reception a Success!
On April 17, 2018, OFDA held its Annual Legislative Reception. OFDA is happy to report that 52 OFDA members and guests were in attendance. The reception provides a unique opportunity for OFDA members to help advocate for the legislative initiatives that impact the funeral industry and to provide “real world” examples of how a particular piece of legislation affects the funeral profession. As it turned out, the Legislature was not in session that day, but we were very pleased that 28 legislative offices were represented at the reception.
2018 May Primary
On Tuesday, May 8, 2018 the Ohio Primary Election will be held. In addition to the Ohio Primary for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sherrod Brown and all 16 seats of Ohio’s U.S. Congressional Delegation, there will be numerous Ohio state offices up for election, i.e. five Statewide offices (Governor, Secretary of State, Treasurer, Auditor and Attorney General), 2 Ohio Supreme Court seats, all 99 Ohio House of Representative seats, and 17 of the 33 Ohio Senate seats.
There is also State Issue 1, which is a Proposed Constitutional Amendment which would “create a bipartisan, public process for drawing Ohio Congressional Districts”. In general, Issue 1 gives the minority party more input into the Congressional redistricting process than they currently have. Both the Ohio Democrat Party and the Ohio Republican Party have endorsed Issue 1.
Pending Legislation
OFDA continues to work with Representative Dick Stein (R-Norwalk) to include “clean up” language from the funeral-related provisions that were included in the State Budget. Stein’s H.B. 168, entitled the Cemetery Restoration and Improvement Act, has passed the House and includes technical changes suggested by OFDA.
H.B. 168 received four hearings in the Senate Finance Committee and on February 27, 2018 passed out of the Committee. The bill will now go to the full Senate for a vote. OFDA expects H.B. 168 will be enacted into Ohio law prior to the Legislature taking its summer break in June.
Below is a summary of the OFDA-supported corrective measures contained in H.B. 168.
LIST OF CORRECTIVE MEASURES TO CHAPTER 4717 OF OHIO REVISED CODE AS INCLUDED IN SUB. H.B. 168 (As passed the Ohio House of Representatives)
Below are seven technical corrections that are included in Sub. H.B. 168 (as passed by the Ohio House) that the Ohio Funeral Directors Association (OFDA) and the Ohio Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors (the “Board”) support.
This bill is a reintroduction of Senator Joe Uecker’s fetal remains legislation from last session that ended on 12/31/2016. The bill provides that a woman who has a surgical abortion is not guilty of failure to dispose of fetal remains humanely if the fetal remains are disposed of in compliance with the bill's cremation or interment provisions. Major provisions include:
The bill passed out of the Senate Government Oversight & Reform Committee on January 10, 2018. At OFDA’s request, Senator Uecker included a clarifying amendment to the bill relating to the final disposition of fetal remains. The bill passed the Ohio Senate on January 17, 2018.
The bill was referred to the House Health Committee and on February 28, 2018 passed out of the Committee. The next step is for the bill to go to the House floor for a vote.
H.B. 510, introduced on February 14, 2018 by Representative Tavia Galonski (D-Akron), establishes a process when one of a deceased adult child’s parents has not visited or failed to maintain contact with the adult child for more than one consecutive year, the other parent may exercise the right of disposition. The parent exercising the right of disposition is required to make a good faith effort to notify the parent who abandoned the adult child of the child’s death. However, the parent exercising the right of disposition is not required to obtain the consent or input of the other parent.
OFDA met with Representative Galonski and explained that current law already establishes a process through the probate court to address such a situation. The bill has received sponsor testimony in the House Community and Family Advancement Committee.
Recently, OFDA received an inquiry from State Senator Vernon Sykes (D-Akron) concerning the possibility of introducing similar legislation in the Senate. Sykes’s Senate District includes Representative Galonski’s House District. OFDA provided information to Senator Sykes office explaining that Ohio law already provides a process to consider such disputes through Probate Courts.
H.B. 146, introduced by Representative Larry Householder on March 21, 2017 would change Ohio law to prohibit a county coroner from changing the cause of death on a death certificate without first obtaining authority from a court of common pleas after a hearing. Under current law a coroner can unilaterally correct a cause of death once without court approval, however, thereafter, court approval is required. The bill has received seven hearings in the House State & Local Government Committee.
The Ohio State Coroners Association has expressed concerns with the bill as being too restrictive and has suggested that the Committee consider making the following changes to the bill:
OFDA will continue to monitor the activity of H.B. 146.