Sec. 20-222. Funeral home license. Hearing; appeal. Record-keeping requirements.

(a) No person, firm, partnership or corporation shall enter into, engage in, or carry on a funeral service business unless a funeral home license has been issued by the department for each place of business. Any person, firm, partnership or corporation desiring to engage in the funeral service business shall submit, in writing, to the department an application upon blanks furnished by the department for a funeral home license for a funeral service business for each place of business, and each such application shall be accompanied by a fee of three hundred seventy-five dollars and shall identify the manager. Each holder of a funeral home license shall, annually, on or before July first, submit in writing to the Department of Public Health an application for renewal of such certificate together with a fee of one hundred ninety dollars. If the Department of Public Health issues to such applicant such a funeral home license, the same shall be valid until July first next following, unless revoked or suspended.

(b) Upon receipt of an initial application for a funeral home license, the Department of Public Health shall make an inspection of each building or part thereof wherein a funeral service business is conducted or is intended to be conducted, and satisfactory proof shall be furnished the Department of Public Health that the building or part thereof, in which it is intended to conduct the funeral service business, contains an adequate sanitary preparation room equipped with tile, cement or composition flooring, necessary ventilation, sink, and hot and cold running water, sewage facilities, and such instruments and supplies for the preparing or embalming of dead human bodies for burial, transportation or other disposition as the Commissioner of Public Health, with advice and assistance from the board, deems necessary and suitable for the conduct and maintenance of such business.

(c) Any person, firm, partnership or corporation desiring to change its place of business shall notify the Department of Public Health thirty days in advance of such change, and a fee of twenty-five dollars shall accompany the application for the funeral home license of the new premises. Any person, firm, partnership or corporation desiring to change its manager shall notify the Department of Public Health thirty days in advance of such change, on a form prescribed by the Commissioner of Public Health.

(d) The building or part thereof in which is conducted or intended to be conducted any funeral service business shall be open at all times for inspection by the board or the Department of Public Health. The Department of Public Health may make inspections whenever it deems advisable.

(e) If, upon inspection by the Department of Public Health, it is found that such building, equipment or instruments are in such an unsanitary condition as to be detrimental to public health, the board shall give to the applicant or operator of the funeral service business notice and opportunity for hearing as provided in the regulations adopted by the Commissioner of Public Health. At any such hearing, the Commissioner of Public Health or his designee shall be considered a member of the board and entitled to a vote. The board, or the Department of Public Health or his designee acting upon the board's finding or determination, may, after such hearing, revoke or refuse to issue or renew any such funeral home license upon cause found after hearing. Any person aggrieved by the finding of said board or action taken by the Department of Public Health may appeal therefrom in accordance with the provisions of section 4-183.

(f) Any of the inspections provided for in this section may be made by a person designated by the Department of Public Health or by a representative of the Commissioner of Public Health.

(g) Any person, firm, partnership or corporation engaged in the funeral service business shall maintain at the address of record of the funeral service business identified on the funeral home license the following:

(1) All records relating to contracts for funeral services, prepaid funeral service contracts or escrow accounts for a period of not less than six years after the death of the individual for whom funeral services were provided;

(2) Copies of all death certificates, burial permits, authorizations for cremation, documentation of receipt of cremated remains and written agreements used in making arrangements for final disposition of dead human bodies, including, but not limited to, copies of the final bill and other written evidence of agreement or obligation furnished to consumers, for a period of not less than six years after such final disposition; and

(3) Copies of price lists, for a period of not less than six years from the last date such lists were distributed to consumers.

(1949 Rev., S. 4537; 1951, S. 2261d; 1959, P.A. 616, S. 64; 1967, P.A. 835, S. 3; June, 1971, P.A. 8, S. 72; P.A. 76-436, S. 428, 681; P.A. 77-603, S. 74, 125; 77-614, S. 437, 610; P.A. 89-251, S. 111, 203; P.A. 93-381, S. 9, 39; P.A. 95-257, S. 12, 21, 58; 95-271, S. 15, 40; P.A. 06-195, S. 13; P.A. 07-252, S. 32; P.A. 09-232, S. 13; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 09-3, S. 227; P.A. 11-242, S. 47, 73; S.A. 11-17, S. 2; P.A. 18-168, S. 30.)

History: 1959 act quintupled application fee, raised renewal fee for same and fee when changing place of business from $10 to $25 and deleted provision in Subsec. (f) that inspector receive such remuneration as board votes; 1967 act substituted “the department of health” for “board” in Subsecs. (1) and (3) re application for renewal of certificate or for change of place of business, added “or the department of health as the case may be” in Subsec. (2) and “or the department of health” in Subsecs. (4), (5) and (6), added to third sentence in Subsec. (5) “or the department of health acting upon the board's finding or determination” and provided for appeal from “action taken by the department of health” in the same subsection; 1971 act raised application fee from $50 to $100 and renewal fee from $5 to $50 in Subsec. (1); P.A. 76-436 replaced court of common pleas with superior court and added reference to judicial districts in Subsec. (5), effective July 1, 1978; P.A. 77-603 replaced provisions requiring appeal within 30 days with requirement that appeals be made in accordance with Sec. 4-183; P.A. 77-614 replaced department of health with department of health services, deleted references to board in Subsecs. (2), (4) and (6) re applications and inspections, made commissioner of health services responsible for sanitary standards, rather than board, in Subsec. (2), retaining board in advisory role, replaced 10 days' notice requirement in Subsec. (5) with requirement that notice and opportunity for hearing to be as provided in commissioner's regulations, replaced all previous appeal provisions with statement that appeals are to be made in accordance with Sec. 4-183 and, in Subsec. (6) removed requirement that inspectors hold a license as an embalmer, effective January 1, 1979; P.A. 89-251 increased the application fee from $100 to $300 and increased the renewal fee from $50 to $150; P.A. 93-381 replaced department and commissioner of health services with department and commissioner of public health and addiction services, effective July 1, 1993; P.A. 95-257 replaced Commissioner and Department of Public Health and Addiction Services with Commissioner and Department of Public Health, effective July 1, 1995; P.A. 95-271 replaced numeric Subsec. indicators with alphabetic indicators, changed references from “board” to “department” and made technical changes, amended Subsec. (a) by deleting prohibition against managing for another, by deleting the requirement that the principals have an embalmer's or funeral director's license and by requiring an application to identify the manager and amended Subsec. (c) by requiring 30 days' advance notice of a change of place of business, effective July 6, 1995; P.A. 06-195 added Subsec. (g) re maintenance of records relating to contracts for funeral services, prepaid funeral contracts and escrow accounts; P.A. 07-252 amended Subsec. (g) by inserting provision requiring funeral service business to maintain records at address of record on certificate of inspection, designating existing provisions as Subdiv. (1), adding Subdiv. (2) re 3-year record retention requirement for copies of death certificates, burial permits, cremation authorizations, documentation of receipt of cremated remains and written agreements used in making arrangements for final disposition of dead human bodies and adding Subdiv. (3) re 3-year record retention requirement for price lists (Revisor's note: In Subdiv. (1) the word “shall” and the comma following were deleted editorially by the Revisors for grammatical accuracy); P.A. 09-232 amended Subsec. (g) by changing record retention requirements from 3 years to 6 years; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 09-3 amended Subsec. (a) to increase fees from $300 to $375 and from $150 to $190; P.A. 11-242 amended Subsec. (g)(1) by substituting “funeral service contracts” for “funeral contracts”, effective October 1, 2011, and added Subsec. (h) re operation of single satellite office, effective July 1, 2011; S.A. 11-17 repealed P.A. 11-242, S. 73, effective July 1, 2011; P.A. 18-168 replaced references to inspection certificate with references to funeral home license, and amended Subsec. (b) by replacing “application” with “initial application”, and making a conforming change.