UPDATE 5/21/08 - Senate Bill 196, a bill to tighten preneed regulation, has made it out of committee. The Funeral Consumers Alliance of Central Ohio supports the bill, but criticizes it for continuing to allow funeral homes to take a 10 percent fee if a customer moves his preneed funeral to a new funeral home. FCACO is also alarmed that no one involved in the legislation could find a single government agency to administer a Consumer Protection Recovery Fund that would help victims of prepaid funeral fraud. Here's their testimony to the Senate Insurance Commerce, and Labor Committee.
To check the full text or present legislative status of bills, here is a link to Ohio's home page.
Senators and contact information (including some e-mail).
House representatives and contact information (including some e-mail).
I support any group that "appreciates funeral service" and respectes the value of "life". The 10% issue is a business action to help recover its "cost" already associated with the "professional" time and courtesy extended, besides the Funeral Home has to pay Taxes on those funds thru the Bank Trust, pay a CPA to accuratley detail the data for all of the clients on a yearly basis, and NEVER paid an employee out of the Trust for their time to sit with a family/phone calls, etc.
Did you know that Ohio Treasurer requires the funeral home pay its Sales Tax to the State when a preplan/merchandise has been completed? And if the funds are transferred to another funeral home, we Never get the money back, and the "new funeral home" will have to pay sales tax again when the "merchandise" is sold by a new funeral director!!!!
Many funeral directors are good people, and I believe the Ohio Funeral Directors are protecting the PEOPLE from and BAD funeral directors from "TAKING" others money improperly.