My Two Cents Worth

From the Desk of the Executive Secretary:

My Two Cents Worth--

KSBMA Seal

Mack with the Administrative Staff of the International Conference of Funeral
Service Examining Boards (ICFSEB) at the 109th ICFSB Annual Conference.
From left to right: Sarah Gill (Public Relations Coordinator), Mack, Dalene Paull (Executive Director),
Eric Forsbach (Examination Services Coordinator), and Dustin Wardlow (Information Services Coordinator)

Last Updated: Friday, August 6, 2010

Hutchison cemetery owner receives 58 month prison Sentence in Fairlawn Burial Park case involving felony theft, misuse of the cemetery's permanent maintenance fund, providing false information, perjury and misdemeanor counts of failure to comply with the Cemetery Merchandise Act. Ms. McDonough was also ordered to pay $653,400 in restitution. Added 8-6-10

Congratulations to KSBMA Member and Past President Fred Holroyd on his recent three-year reappointment by Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson to the Kansas State Board of Mortuary Arts! Congratulations, Fred. From the It's Your Business section/Names of the Sunday, August 1, 2010 edition of the Topeka Capital-Jounal: Fred Holroyd has been reappointed to an additional three-year term as a board member of the Kansas State Board of Mortuary Arts. Holroyd is vice president of community development at Penwell-Gabel, where he has worked since 1971. He has been a licensed embalmer in Kansas since 1965 and a licensed funeral director in Kansas since 1967. He also is a certified eye enucleator. Updated 8-6-2010

On a voice vote, the House Energy and Commerce Committee has approved H.R. 3655, the "Bereaved Consumers BIll of Rights Act." If the bill becomes law in its' current format, it would direct the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to issue a rule regulating cemeteries, crematories and all third-party sellers who sell funeral or burial goods or services to the public. Information can be obtained by viewing the Library of Congress Thomas. Updated 8-6-2010

REMINDER!!! On August 1, 2010 the Department of Homeland Security's Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has announced that the 100% air cargo screening protocols for Human Remains (HR) shipments become effective. The screening for human remains shipped by passenger airliners in the USA went into effect in February 2009 at the 50% level. There are several web sites available with useful information that you may want to look at, including the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and American Airlines (AA) Cargo. UPDATED 7-27-2010

The KFDA 2010 Fall District Meetings will be coming up the first two weeks of September. KFDA Executive Director Pam Scott and I will provide the two-hour program in the afternoon discussing new law changes. Check out the KFDA web site for further details. Updated 8-6-2010

ALL KANSAS FUNERAL HOMES, PLEASE NOTE THAT: Due to budget cuts made during the 2010 Kansas Legislative Session, the SRS Funeral Assistance Program will no longer be budgeted as of July 1, 2010. In addition, SRS has instructed their field staff to accept no new funeral assistance applications after May 31, 2010. Any application not processed by the end of the fiscal year will be denied regardless of when it is received with as there are no available funds following June 30, 2010.

On Thursday, May 13, 2010, Governor Mark Parkinson announced the signing of several bills, including:

Relating to crematory operations--

Senate Substitute for House Bill 2310 enacts new law creating licensure requirements for crematory operators, increases the statutory maximum for certain fees charged by the Kansas State Board of Mortuary Arts and makes several amendments to laws governing the cremation process. Among the new requirements, the bill will:

· Require that every cremation conducted in Kansas be under the supervision of a licensed crematory operator;

Make it unlawful for any person to engage in the business of crematory operator without a license;

· Require that every person desiring to enter the practice of crematory operator apply to the Board of Mortuary Arts and meet the requirements of the Board concerning age and training; and

· Establishes a renewal fee for licensure.

In addition, the bill establishes a new definition of cremation and requires the consent of the next of kin when a crematory intends to recycle anything remaining after cremation. The bill takes effect upon its publication in the Kansas Statute Book.

The Cremation Association of North America (CANA) revised their Model Cremation Law at their Board of Directors Meeting held on Friday, January 22, 2010. If you are a member of CANA, you can go to their web site and see their update version.

An informal Attorney General Opinion requested by the KSBMA for the Kansas Funeral Directors Association (KFDA) involving if a person who acts as an agent for families in securing cremation services (direct cremation provider) is practicing the business of funeral directing without a license in violation of K.S.A. 65-1714.

Embalming Reports I know you've heard this from me in the past, but everyone should be using them--for a number of reasons! Kansas law doesn't require them, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be using them. It helps if a family asks questions after disposition or if remains are shipped via public transportation, and you are unable to recall the condition of the deceased prior to embalming, type/amount ot fluid used . . . Some examples of reports that I discovered searching the internet, include: Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 to just list a few. I suggest you contact your fluid salesperson or do some searching yourself for the one that fits your needs--or even put one together yourself, but require a signature, date and time. UPDATED 7-20-2010

Web Site Activity There were 57,448 successful requests for access to the KSBMA web site in the month of July. UPDATED 8-1-2010

Rule Book Update We've updated our rule book with laws current as of October 15, 2009. The rule book can be printed off at no cost to your from our website or you can purchase a copy by sending $5.00 to our office. If you have a good quality printer that will print both back and fronts, then free is a good price. Otherwise, with a total of approximately 50 pages, $5.00 may be the way to go. The rule book is saved in Adobe Acrobat Reader (pdf) format. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader already installed on your computer, please visit their site to download it at no cost. We are in the process of updating the book to include the recently amended Vital Statistics regulation governing the cost of death certificates.    The web site edition of the rule book is now much easier to print than previous editions!!! With all the legislation passed during the 2010 Legislative Session, we hope to have an updated Rule Book available shortly after the first of the year (20110) as scheduling permits.

The American Society of Embalmers (ASE) If you're a licensed embalmer and haven't yet taken a look at joining the ASE, I suggest you checkout the ASE Website for membership information. Their quarterly newsletter is worth the price of membership which is currently only $75 for the initial year and $45 per year thereafter. Student membership is available, also. You can join with a credit card online or you can print off a membership application, and pay via check. ASE Co-Founder Bob Mayer, CFSP, was Recognized by the National Funeral Directors Association at their 2009 Annual Convention in Boston. The ASE Executive Director is Melissa Johnson Williams, CFSP, who is also a Co-Founder of the ASE. Kansas licensee Mark McDonald from Beloit is on the ASE's Board of Directors.

Effective January 15, 2010, all certified copies of Kansas death certificates ordered through the KDHE/Office of Vital Statistics will cost $15 each instead of $13 for the first certified copy and $8 for each additional copy per order. A copy of the regulations addressing the new cost can be found in the December 31, 2009 edition of the Kansas Register, Vol. 28, No. 53, on page 1809 in KAR 28-17-6.

PLEASE NOTE that some of the information on our web site is in pdf/Adobe Acrobat Reader format. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader already installed on your computer, please visit their site to download it.

KSBMA License Fees Look for our license fees to remain the same for the upcoming two year biennial licensing period of January 1, 2010 until December 31, 2011. This will mean that fees will have remained the same for six (6) consecutive years, three (3) biennial licensure period. We do our best to not raise fees unless we absolutely have to. Fee increases have occurred in 1994, 2000 and 2006. With the passage of Senate Substitute for House Bill 2310 which becomes law July 1, 2011, the fee for individual crematory operators, which will be finalized via regulation, is tentatively scheduled to be $50 every two-years.

Questions, Thoughts, Suggestions??? Please let me know if there is anything else you would like to see us include on this page or anywhere on our website. Constructive criticism is always appreciated. Our contact information is listed below. My direct email address is: mack.smith@ksbma.ks.gov   UPDATED 8-6-2010

I heard this while watching the British Open from one of the announcers when he was talking about a mentor of his that I thought was worth sharing:    "The best dreams are the ones seen with eyes wide open."

KSBMA Executive Secretary Mack Smith with Granddaughter Jaiden at the Gage Park Carousel
This Grandfather thing is a BLAST!!!

Mack's Signature

700 SW Jackson Street, Suite 904 - Topeka, Kansas 66603-3733
phone: (785) 296-3980 - fax: (785) 296-0891 - email: boma1@ksbma.ks.gov

Business Hours: 8 a.m.-12 noon & 12:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday - Friday
Please leave us a message on our voice mail if we are unable to answer your call or send us an email at: boma1@ksbma.ks.gov

***Due to the State of Kansas changing over to a new financial management system (FMS), attendance at meetings by our office staff (Mary and Mack) will require that our telephones be placed on voice mail from time to time. I apologize for this, but we will return all phone calls and emails just as soon as possible.***