Colorado hasn't licensed funeral practitioners since 1983. Now some want change.
Investigators in Fremont County found 115 decaying improperly stored bodies in a funeral home in Penrose on Thursday, but law enforcement says they aren't sure a crime was committed because funeral directors and practitioners don't have to be licensed in Colorado.
"There's all kinds of horror stories and we're reading about them it seems like one or two a year," said Michael Blackburn, the former president of the Colorado Funeral Directors Association.
Lawmakers are calling for more regulation of the funeral industry because right now Colorado has none.
Colorado's funeral industry was deregulated in 1983. It's the only state in the nation where that's the case.
"Since then, we've ended up being a dumping ground for funeral directors or practitioners throughout the country who have lost licensing in other states," said Blackburn.
Blackburn was the president of the Colorado Funeral Directors Association in 1983 when the legislature stopped requiring licensure of funeral practitioners.
He says back then, the state legislature accused the organization of not enforcing the regulations in place. He says they did their best but were only allocated an annual budget of $2,000 by the state.
He also says there were some companies that had ulterior motives for deregulating the funeral home industry.
"There were some companies that wanted to disband the idea of educating funeral directors because then they could train people off the streets for half the price," said Blackburn.
He thinks the state needs to regulate such an important industry again in some way.
"It's like the Wild West and it seems ludicrous to me that you can be fined if you perform a manicure, but you can pick up someone who has an infectious disease or not have a clue about what you are doing," said Blackburn.
In 2009, the legislature passed a law requiring funeral homes to be registered with the state. The Colorado Funeral Directors Association says that's a step in the right direction, but it's hard to hold a building or organization responsible when a bad actor does something wrong.
