Legislation to impose stricter requirements on ‘Mortuary Service Professionals’
(COLORADO SPRINGS) — As it stands now, anyone can start a funeral home or embalming service in Colorado, but that might be about to change thanks to new legislation being proposed.
Colorado has the loosest laws across the nation, with no background check and no licensing to run or operate a funeral home. It is for this reason El Paso County Coroner Dr. Leon Kelly thinks SB24-173 is a move in the right direction.
Kelly told FOX21 News he remembers a lot of cases, but last fall stands out. It was in October 2023 when hundreds of improperly stored bodies were found decomposing at the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose.
“You’re not allowed to just bury people in your backyard, like the government says if someone dies, here are the steps that you need to go through…” Kelly said. “There is paperwork that needs to be signed. These are the safeguards that we put in place.”
But because Colorado has little to no laws when it comes to being a Mortuary Service Professional, Dr. Kelly said citizens often in their grief don’t know who to turn to.
“I don’t think it’s unreasonable that we ask of those people to have the proper schooling and the proper, you know, accreditation and certifications to do those important jobs,”: Kelly said.
SB24-173 aims to do exactly that, as it would require all funeral service professionals to obtain an official license beginning in 2026. To obtain a license, there would have to be a criminal background check, a degree from an accredited educational facility as well as the mandate of a one year apprenticeship.
“Many of those folks do optionally take classes, go to school, get the training that they need, and get certified,” Dr. Kelly said. “But there’s no requirement that individuals who are operating funeral homes or working in that industry meet specific standards in education or certification.”
Having been the coroner for 16 years, Dr. Kelly sees another problem in El Paso County causing families to fall victim to funeral fiascos.
What was once a mom-and-pop small funeral business, has started to be bought up by giant corporations looking to make a quick buck off the same trusted name.
“It creates a situation where there’s an opportunity for unprofessional individuals or individuals who haven’t had the experience and the training necessary to do the job in the right way, to be hired and to be put in these positions that they’re really not qualified to do,” Dr. Kelly said.
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