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ENGROSSED HOUSE
BILL NO. 1742 By: Dills of the House
and
Newhouse of the Senate
An Act relating to professions and occupations;
amending 59 O.S. 2011, Section s 396.2, as amended by
Section 1, Chapter 97, O.S.L. 2013, and 396.5 (59
O.S. Supp. 2020, Section 396.2), which relate to the
Funeral Services Licensing Act; modifying and ad ding
definitions; modifying fee ; and providing an
effective date.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. AMENDATORY 59 O.S. 2011, Section 396.2, as
amended by Section 1, Chapter 97, O.S.L. 2013 (59 O.S. Supp. 2020,
Section 396.2), is amended to read as follows:
Section 396.2 As used in the Funeral Services Licensing Act:
1. "Embalmer" means a person who dis infects or preserves dead
human remains, entire or in part, by the use of chemical substances,
fluids or gases in the remains, or by the introduction of same into
the remains by vascular or hypodermic injection, or by direct
application into organs or cavi ties;
2. "Funeral director" means a person who:
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a. is engaged in or conducts or represents themselves as
being engaged in preparing for the burial or disposal
and directing and supervising the burial or disposal
of dead human remains,
b. is engaged in or conducts or represents themselves as
being engaged in maintaining a funeral establishment
for the preparation and the disposition, or for the
care of dead human remains,
c. uses, in connection with the name of the person or
funeral establishment, the words "funeral director" or
"undertaker" or "mortician" or any other title
implying that the person is engaged as a funeral
director,
d. sells funeral service merchandise to the public, or
e. is responsible for the legal and ethical operation of
a crematory;
3. "Funeral establishment" means a place of business used in
the care and preparation for burial, commercial embalming, or
transportation of dead human remains, or any place where any person
or persons shall hold forth and be engaged in the profession of
undertaking or funeral directing;
4. "Apprentice" means a person who is engaged in learning the
practice of embalming or the practice of funeral directing, as the
case may be, under the instruction and personal supervision of a
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duly licensed embalmer or a d uly licensed funeral director of and in
the State of Oklahoma, pursuant to the provisions of the Funeral
Services Licensing Act, and who is duly registered as such with said
Board;
5. "Board" means the Oklahoma Funeral Board;
6. "Directing a funeral" or "funeral directing" means directing
funeral services from the time of the first call until final
disposition or release to a common carrier or release to next of kin
of the deceased or the designee of the next of kin;
7. "First call" means the beginning o f the relationship and
duty of the funeral director to take charge of dead human remains
and have such remains prepared by embalming, cremation, or
otherwise, for burial or disposition, provided all laws pertaining
to public health in this state are compli ed with. First call does
not include calls made by ambulance, when the person dispatching the
ambulance does not know whether or not dead human remains are to be
picked up;
8. "Personal supervision" means the physical presence of a
licensed funeral direc tor or embalmer at the specified time and
place of the providing of acts of funeral service;
9. "Commercial embalming establishment" means a fixed place of
business consisting of an equipped preparation room, and other rooms
as necessary, for the specifie d purpose of performing preparation
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and shipping services of dead human remains to funeral
establishments inside and outside this state;
10. "Funeral service merchandise or funeral services" means
those products and services normally provided by funeral
establishments and required to be listed on the General Price List
of the Federal Trade Commission, 15 U.S.C., Section 57a(a),
including, but not limited to, the sale of burial supplies and
equipment, but excluding the sale by a cemetery of lands or
interests therein, services incidental thereto, markers, memorials,
monuments, equipment, crypts, niches or outer enclosures;
11. "Outer enclosure" means a grave liner, grave box, or grave
vault;
12. "Funeral director in charge" means an individual licensed
as both a funeral director and embalmer designated by a funeral
service establishment, commercial embalming establishment, or
crematory who is responsible for the legal and ethical operation of
the establishment and is accountable to the Board;
13. "Authorizing agent" means a person legally entitled to
order the cremation or final disposition of particular human remains
pursuant to Section 1151 or 1158 of Title 21 of the Oklahoma
Statutes; and
14. "Cremation" means the technical process, using heat and
flame, or heat and pressure, that reduces human remains to essential
elements, including bone fragments. The reduction takes place
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through heat and evaporation. Cremation shall include, but not be
limited to, the processing and pulverization of the bone fragm ents,
or through alkaline hydrolysis;
15. "Crematory" means a structure containing a furnace or
alkaline hydrolysis vessel used or intended to be used for the
cremation of human remains. The term includes a facility that
cremates human remains through al kaline hydrolysis; and
16. "Alkaline hydrolysis" means the reduction of human remains
to bone fragments and essential elements in a licensed crematory
using heat, pressure, water and base chemical agents .
SECTION 2. AMENDATORY 59 O.S. 2011, Section 396.5, is
amended to read as follows:
Section 396.5 All licenses issued by the Board shall expire on
the 31st day of December of each year. The Board shall issue a
renewal for such license without further examination upon the
payment of a renewal fee as required by Section 396.4 of this title.
A funeral director or embalmer who fails to apply for a renewal
license for a period of three (3) years or more , shall be reinstated
by taking a written and oral examination, as required by the Board,
and by paying a fee of Twenty-five Dollars ($25.00) and the current
years' dues as required by Section 396.4 o f this title.
SECTION 3. This act shall become effective November 1, 2021.
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Passed the House of Representatives the 10th day of March, 2021.
Presiding Officer of the House
of Representatives
Passed the Senate the ___ day of __________, 2021.
Presiding Officer of the Senate