4/3/2009 – Boulder Weekly ran a feature story on the bill, highlighting the sponsor’s consultation with industry – but not consumer groups – in drafting this bill. FCA did have a productive conversation with the executive director of the Colorado Funeral Director’s Association, which resulted in many areas of agreement on possible amendments (though not total agreement). Here’s the letter we sent to Rep. Nancy Todd with suggested amendments. She appears to be refusing to communicate with us; why a lawmaker would ignore pleas from a consumer group while drafting “consumer protection” legislation with the aid of a business lobbying group is a mystery.
3/5/09 — An anti-consumer bill is working its way through the Colorado legislature, and FCA is fighting back with the help of its Colorado chapter, the Funeral Consumer Society of Colorado. HB 1202 purports to better protect consumers by requiring regulation and standards for funeral businesses, but the bill’s sloppy language would outlaw private, family-directed funerals and stifle competition that could bring lower-cost funerals and cremations to Colorado families. The bill looks to be the handiwork of the Colorado Funeral Directors Association, and it has all the hallmarks of a lobbying group using lawmakers to circle the hearses to protect funeral industry profits.
Click here to read FCA’s critique of the bill.
FCA Executive Director Joshua Slocum will discuss the bill on KGNU Community Radio on March 5, 2009. Click here to stream the live broadcast at 8:00 a.m. Mountain Time.
