Print Page
| Legislative |
|
Legislators universally give more credence to communications from
constituents. While it may well be true that MFDA leadership is voicing
your opinion, your sentiments, on your behalf -- legislators want to
hear from the people they represent!
<<<Find My MN Legislative District >>> 2024 SESSION REPORT: Minnesota Funeral Directors Association The 2024 legislative session proved to be very successful for the Minnesota Funeral Directors Association. The final hours of the session saw the passage of MFDA’s priority legislation, included in the “mega” omnibus bill, along with multiple other provisions MFDA worked on – resulting in the most significant session for funeral service-related policies in many years. TRANSFER CARE SPECIALIST [PASSED] STANDALONE BILL AUTHORS
IN REVIEW: Introduced during the 2023 session, MFDA’s Transfer Care Specialist legislation (HF2509 / SF2611), authored by Representative John Huot (DFL-Rosemount) and Senator Paul Utke (R-Park Rapids), was ready to move forward in 2024 following significant advocacy in the summer and fall of 2023. Passing legislation is not easy and passing “scope of practice” legislation carries additional challenges.
The legislation creates the Transfer Care Specialist and authorizes this individual to make the removal of a dead human body from the place of death and transport to a licensed funeral establishment. The Transfer Care Specialist must register with the Department of Health, pay the $226 annual registration fee, maintain a supervising mortician, be employed by a licensed funeral establishment, complete training (7 hours prior to initial registration), and continuing education (3 credit hours prior to renewals).
With the support of Senate Health and Human Services Chair, Senator Melissa Wiklund (DFL- Bloomington), the Senate HHS Committee passed SF2611 on February 20, just a week into the 2024 session. Two days later, on February 22, HF2509 was passed out of the House Health Finance and Policy Committee. MFDA’s Legislative Committee Chair Brian Dingmann testified in the Senate committee, and current MFDA President Sara Thompson testified in the House. The bill was amended in both bodies with language suggested by the Department of Health.
The next stop was with the Judiciary committees in the House and Senate. Despite the volume of bills awaiting vetting in the Judiciary committees, HF2509 was quickly heard and passed out of the House Judiciary committee on March 7, and SF2611 was passed out of the Senate Judiciary committee on March 20. MFDA Lobbyist Joe Sellwood testified on behalf of MFDA in both Judiciary committees.
Following the completion of the required vetting as a standalone bill in committees, the legislation was then included in the HHS Scope & Licensing Omnibus bill (HF4247) authored in the House by Health Committee Chair, Representative Tina Liebling (DFL-Rochester) on March 20, and in the Senate bill ( SF4570) authored by Senate HHS Chair, Senator Melissa Wiklund (DFL-Bloomington) on April 3.
Aside from passing the bill, there was only one remaining barrier in the way at this point in the session – the Transfer Care Specialist registration fee amount determined by the Department of Health. The Department’s initial fiscal note found that each registrant would be required to pay $894 annually for registration as a Transfer Care Specialist. MFDA strongly pushed back on this exorbitant assessment, and the Department ultimately provided a second fiscal analysis on April 3, which determined the annual registration fee amount to be an appropriate $226.
The HHS Scope & Licensing Omnibus bill was then heard in the House Ways and Means Committee on April 3, and sent to the House Floor, where it passed 92-37 on April 29. On the Senate side, the bill was passed out of the Senate Finance Committee on May 6, and enjoyed unanimous support with a Senate floor vote of 66-0 on May 7.
Even with the bill’s passage in the House and Senate, our work was not yet done. Because the HHS Scope & Licensing Omnibus bill was not the same language in each body, a Conference Committee (three members from the House and three members from the Senate) was convened to work out the differences between the two bills and draft a final version to be re-passed on the floors. While our Transfer Care Specialist language was not a point of contention, there were two unrelated provisions (optometrists’ scope & certified licensed nurse midwives’ scope) that threatened the survival of the bill. The certified licensed nurse midwife provision was eliminated from the bill and while the optometrist scope language remained in and continued to be a point of contention, an agreement on final language between the House and Senate had been reached. At 5:44 PM on Saturday, May 18, the latest version of the HHS Scope & Licensing Omnibus bill (HF4247) was unveiled and the Transfer Care Specialist language remained intact as Article 1 of the bill.
But legislators weren’t done making changes just yet. At 3:16 PM on Sunday, May 19, the final HHS Scope and Licensing Omnibus bill was posted online, absent the optometrist scope language. It was then taken up for a vote on the House Floor, passing with a resounding 130-0. However, the Senate had an unmanageable backlog of bills due to their inaction on the floor the day before as Senator Omar Fateh (DFL-Minneapolis) maintained his absence until a deal was reached on the Uber/Lyft legislation (bills can’t be passed on a 33-33 tie vote). As time dwindled on the final day to pass bills, it was starting to look like the Transfer Care Specialist language may have to wait another year.
However, through a chaotic last-minute maneuver, the language from the HHS Scope & Licensing Omnibus bill was placed into the Tax Omnibus bill, HF5247, along with multiple other omnibus bills (totaling nearly 1500 pages) and passed by the House and Senate with minutes to spare before the clock struck midnight on Sunday, May 19.
Signed by Governor Walz on May 24, the Transfer Care Specialist law (Chapter 127) becomes effective July 1, 2024. NATURAL ORGANIC REDUCTION [PASSED] STANDALONE BILL AUTHORS
IN REVIEW: Introduced in the 2023 legislative session, the Natural Organic Reduction legislation, awaited action in 2024. Proposed by NOR advocates including funeral directors and former State Senator Carolyn Laine, conventional understanding of policymaking said the proposal was primed for action in 2025, rather than 2024, as the Department of Health was charged in 2023 to complete a study on the “impacts of green burials and natural organic reduction,” and report to the legislature by February 1, 2025. It is not often the legislature gets ahead of agency studies which provide policy and statutory recommendations.
However, the NOR legislation moved forward this session and was included in the final omnibus bill passed on May 19. Late in the session, members of MFDA’s Legislative Committee met with proponents of the NOR legislation and worked out the remaining issues.
The provisions authorize natural organic reduction as a method of final disposition of human remains, effective July 1, 2025. The provisions amend definitions related to natural organic reduction and requires the commissioner of health to regulate the licensing and operation of natural organic reduction facilities, which must meet certain building, equipment, sanitation, and privacy requirements. Additionally, the legislation specifies procedures facilities must follow when accepting bodies, handling remains, ensuring identification of remains, preventing commingling, mechanically processing remains, testing remains for contaminants, and releasing remains. Further, it requires specific authorization before a facility can naturally reduce a body.
The final version of the NOR legislation was included in the massive HF5247 multi-omnibus bill. SALE OF HUMAN REMAINS PROHIBITED [PASSED] STANDALONE BILL AUTHORS
IN REVIEW: MFDA met early on with Representative Jamie Becker-Finn (DFL-Roseville), Chair of the House Judiciary Finance and Civil Law committee to learn more about HF3490 and subsequently support the Chair’s efforts to criminalize the sale of human remains. In the bill’s first hearing in the House, Joe Sellwood testified on behalf of the association in support of the proposal. The bill, and MFDA’s support, generated write-ups from the Star Tribune, the Minnesota House Media Services, and the Timberjay. MFDA’s backing for the bill proved critical to our overall success, as it spread our advocacy efforts to committees beyond those deliberating on health-related issues. The legislation, passed as part of the Judiciary Budget Omnibus bill (HF5216) prohibits the sale or offering for sale of any part of a calcified dead human body, and establishes the violation as a felony offense. However, the law allows for the donation of human remains to licensed health care providers, public or private postsecondary educational institutions, or individuals employed by or under contract with these entities for legitimate medical, scientific, or educational purposes. Donations are also permitted to companies registered with the United States Food and Drug Administration for the development, manufacturing, and research of medical products, as well as to law enforcement agencies, search and rescue units, or local emergency management organizations for search and rescue training or to entities that train cadaver dogs.
The law clarifies that the prohibition on the sale of human remains does not apply to incidental sales related to real property, such as undisturbed burial plots, cemeteries, crypts, or other burial features. Additionally, the law allows for the recovery of reasonable expenses related to the processing, preservation, quality control, storage, transportation, or final disposition of human remains for the legitimate purposes described in the section.
IN REVIEW: Prior to the start of the 2024 legislative session, MFDA worked with Service Corporation International (SCI) an association member, on clarification language to make clear that a travel protection agreement product is exempt from preneed services. SCI engaged the lobbying firm Cozen O’Connor to work on the legislation. HF4246 was introduced by the Chair of the Senate Human Services committee, Senator John Hoffman (DFL-Champlin), and SF4010 was introduced by Vice Chair of the House Health committee, Representative Robert Bierman (DFL-Apple Valley). The language was ultimately included in HF5247, passing on the final day of session. MFDA and SCI worked together at the capitol on the travel protection agreement, human remains, and transfer care specialist legislation.
MDH Fee Clarification [PASSED] Effective: July 1, 2024 PASSED IN: HF5247 Article 59, Section 51 Lines: 1132.12 – 1133.5
IN REVIEW: This simple change to the language in 149A.65 clarifies that the fees paid are nonrefundable and are for the initial and renewal “application” for licensure.
Download this summary here. Learn more about MFDA's Political Action Committee
|
