In the last few years, Colorado has become the epicenter for malpractice in the funeral industry. Now, lawmakers are trying to fix that with legislation to allow inspections of funeral homes and crematories without first getting an operator’s permission to enter premises.

In 2020, the owners of Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose were arrested for allegedly selling body parts, and sometimes full bodies, of decreased individuals whose families had brought them to the funeral home to be cremated. Investigators said that, from 2010 to 2018, hundreds of unknowing families received ashes composed of concrete, kitty litter and the cremations of strangers.

The next year, two counties away, Lake County Coroner Shannon Kent was arrested after investigators said they found severely decomposed bodies in his funeral home – one which had been dead since 2013 and another, an infant, which was so decomposed it could not be identified. Kent was also accused of keeping unrefrigerated bodies and bags of unlabeled cremains in his funeral homes in Silverthorne, Leadville and Gypsum.

“It’s unbelievable to have two national, attention-grabbing stories of abuses of corpses, right here in our own state of Colorado,” said Rep. Matt Soper, bill sponsor and representative of the district where the Sunset Mesa Funeral Home operated. “It really does highlight that we have gaps in the law.”

If passed, House Bill 1073 would attempt to fill these gaps by giving the Division of Professions and Occupations the power to inspect registered funeral establishments and crematories without getting the permission of operators to enter premises. It would allow the office to contract with a private party to conduct the inspections, as well as authorize inspectors to enter crematories during business hours. 

“It’s a fairly simple bill but it will mean a lot for families across Colorado who can have assurances that, if there is a complaint about the funeral home in their community, it can be timely and adequately inspected so that some of the atrocities don’t happen to other Colorado families,” said Rep. Dylan Roberts, D-Eagle, the bill’s other sponsor.

Soper, R-Delta, said complaints were made against the funeral homes in both incidents for years prior to the arrests; however, current law does not allow investigators to inspect funeral establishments without the owner’s permission until a criminal investigation has been launched. The same requirement is not in place for other establishments, such as hair salons and restaurants.

Karen McGovern, deputy director of the Division of Professions and Occupations, said the division supports the bill. The division is part of the state’s Department of Regulatory Agencies and is tasked with regulating all funeral homes and crematories in Colorado.

“In each of these instances, our ability to immediately suspend the license for danger to public health, safety or welfare was significantly delayed because we lacked authority to enter the premises to confirm the allegations,” McGovern said. “In the Kent matter, we sent an investigator up there on several occasions and we were denied access. In the Sunset Mesa case, we sent investigators up there five times.”

The Colorado Funeral Directors Association also supports the bill. Javan Jones, president of the association, said the Colorado funeral industry wants to help make necessary changes to prevent any criminal acts from happening again.

“We need to be able to regulate the bad actors in our industry,” said Jones, who has been in the funeral industry for 22 years, is a county coroner and operates multiple funeral homes. “We believe that the funeral industry in Colorado overall is a great community of professional, honest and caring people. We also believe that, if there’s a problem, this bill allows the proper people to investigate.” 

The House business committee advanced the bipartisan bill on Thursday in an 11 to 1 vote. One committee member was absent and Rep. Shane Sandridge, R-Colorado Springs, voted no without comment.

If enacted, the bill would go into effect in August.