Rotting bodies, fake ashes and sold body parts push Colorado to patch lax funeral home rules

By JESSE BEDAYN
Associated Press/Report for America

DENVER (AP) — Colorado lawmakers have unveiled a bill that would install requirements for funeral home directors after nearly 200 bodies were found stacked and rotting in a funeral home in September. Another bill expected to be introduced would require routine inspections of facilities. Both bills would overhaul the state’s threadbare funeral home regulations, which failed to prevent a string of gruesome cases, from sold body parts to fake ashes. Funeral home directors currently are not required to have graduated high school. If the bill passes, a license would require a background check, degree in mortuary science, passage of a national examination and an apprenticeship.