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[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3655 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3655

 To direct the Federal Trade Commission to establish rules to prohibit 
   unfair or deceptive acts or practices related to the provision of 
                           funeral services.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 25, 2009

   Mr. Rush introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
 To direct the Federal Trade Commission to establish rules to prohibit 
   unfair or deceptive acts or practices related to the provision of 
                           funeral services.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Bereaved Consumer's Bill of Rights 
Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) there have been shocking consumer abuses in the funeral 
        industry, including scandals at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, 
        Illinois, Menorah Gardens Cemetery in Palm Beach, Florida, and 
        the Tri State Crematory in Noble, Georgia;
            (2) funeral arrangements are a major expense for most 
        American households and families;
            (3) some consumers seek to ease the burdens on their 
        families by arranging and paying for pre-need funeral and 
        cemetery arrangements;
            (4) most funerals are planned by grieving family members at 
        a time when they are especially vulnerable and unlikely to 
        focus on cost comparison;
            (5) the Federal Trade Commission's Funeral Industry 
        Practices Trade Regulation Rule (known as the Funeral Rule) 
        dictates consumer protections in the funeral home, but does not 
        cover the practices of cemeteries, crematoria, or sellers of 
        monuments, urns, or caskets;
            (6) State laws are inconsistent and frequently too weak to 
        provide adequate consumer protections, creating a need for 
        minimum federal standards in this area;
            (7) consumers have the right to receive clear and accurate 
        information about all funeral goods and services offered for 
        sale;
            (8) consumers need effective protection from fraud and 
        abusive practices by all providers of funeral goods and 
        services and at all stages of the funeral planning process; and
            (9) a new Federal law that provides adequate protections to 
        grieving families is warranted.

SEC. 3. FTC RULEMAKING RELATING TO UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS OR 
              PRACTICES IN THE PROVISION OF FUNERAL GOODS OR SERVICES.

    (a) In General.--The Federal Trade Commission shall prescribe rules 
prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the provision of 
funeral goods or services. Such rules shall include the following:
            (1) A requirement that providers of funeral goods or 
        funeral services furnish accurate price information disclosing 
        the cost to the purchaser for each of the specific funeral 
        goods or funeral services provided or offered for sale.
            (2) A prohibition on misrepresentations by such providers, 
        including misrepresentations of the requirements of Federal, 
        State, or local law.
            (3) A prohibition on conditioning the provision of any 
        funeral good or funeral service upon the purchase of any other 
        funeral good or funeral service from that provider, except as 
        required by law.
            (4) A requirement that contracts for funeral services or 
        funeral goods be written clearly, stating the merchandise and 
        services that purchasers are buying and their prices.
            (5) In the case of contracts for funeral services or 
        funeral goods that are pre-paid in whole or in part, required 
        disclosures in the contract regarding any penalties incurred if 
        the consumer decides to cancel or transfer the contract to 
        another provider of funeral services or funeral goods.
            (6) A requirement that contracts for funeral services or 
        funeral goods disclose all fees and costs to be incurred in the 
        future or at the time that the funeral services or funeral 
        goods are provided.
            (7) A requirement that cemeteries provide to consumers, in 
        a timely manner, all written rules and regulations of the 
        cemetery, and a clear explanation in writing of the interment, 
        inurnment, or entombment right that has been purchased, and any 
        material terms and conditions of that purchase, including any 
        repurchase option by the cemetery or resale rights available to 
        the consumer.
            (8) A requirement that cemeteries--
                    (A) retain all records in existence on the date of 
                enactment of this Act, including maps or other systems 
                indicating the location and date of each interment, 
                inurnment, or entombment;
                    (B) accurately record and retain records of all 
                interment, inurnment, or entombment rights sold after 
                the effective date of the regulations issued under this 
                subsection, in such manner and form as the Commission 
                may prescribe in such regulations; and
                    (C) make such records available to Federal, State, 
                and local governments, as appropriate.
    (b) Rulemaking.--
            (1) In general.--The Commission shall prescribe the rules 
        under subsection (a) within 1 year after the date of enactment 
        of this Act. Such rules, and any future rules or revision of 
        rules prescribed by the Commission prohibiting unfair or 
        deceptive acts or practices in the provision of funeral goods 
        or services, shall be prescribed in accordance with section 553 
        of title 5, United States Code.
            (2) Relationship to funeral rule.--No rule prescribed 
        pursuant to this Act shall be less protective of consumers than 
        the Trade Regulation Rule on Funeral Industry Practices (16 
        C.F.R. part 453).
    (c) Application of Rules to Tax Exempt Organizations and States.--
Notwithstanding the definition of corporation in section 4 of the 
Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 44), the rules prescribed under 
subsection (a), and any future rules or revision of rules prescribed by 
the Commission prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the 
provision of funeral goods or funeral services, shall also apply to 
cemeteries organized or operated by--
            (1) organizations described in section 501(c) of the 
        Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that are exempt from taxation 
        under section 501(a) of such Code;
            (2) religious organizations (notwithstanding any contrary 
        provisions of law set forth in the Religious Freedom 
        Restoration Act, 42 U.S.C. 2000bb--2000bb-4); and
            (3) States or any political subdivision of a State.
    (d) Enforcement.--Any violation of any rule prescribed under this 
section shall be treated as a violation of a regulation prescribed 
under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 
U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)) regarding unfair or deceptive acts or practices. 
The Federal Trade Commission shall enforce this Act in the same manner, 
by the same means, and with the same jurisdiction as though all 
applicable terms and provisions of the Federal Trade Commission Act 
were incorporated into and made a part of this Act. Any person who 
violates the regulations prescribed under this Act shall be subject to 
the penalties and entitled to the privileges and immunities provided in 
that Act.

SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT BY STATES.

    (a) In General.--Whenever an attorney general of any State has 
reason to believe that the interests of the residents of that State 
have been or are being threatened or adversely affected because any 
person has engaged or is engaging in an act or practice which violates 
any rule of the Commission issued under section 3 of this Act, the 
State, as parens patriae, may bring a civil action on behalf of its 
residents in an appropriate district court of the United States to 
enjoin such violative act or practice, to enforce compliance with such 
rule of the Commission, to obtain damages, restitution, or other 
compensation on behalf of residents of such State, or to obtain such 
further and other relief as the court may determine appropriate.
    (b) Notice.--The State shall provide prior written notice of any 
civil action under subsection (a) or (f)(2) to the Commission and 
provide the Commission with a copy of its complaint, except that if it 
is not feasible for the State to provide such prior notice, the State 
shall provide such notice immediately upon instituting such action. 
Upon receiving a notice respecting a civil action, the Commission shall 
have the right--
            (1) to intervene in such action;
            (2) upon so intervening, to be heard on all matters arising 
        therein;
            (3) to remove the action to the appropriate United States 
        district court; and
            (4) to file petitions for appeal.
    (c) Construction.--For purposes of bringing any civil action under 
subsection (a), nothing in this Act shall prevent an attorney general 
from exercising the powers conferred on the attorney general by the 
laws of such State to conduct investigations or to administer oaths or 
affirmations or to compel the attendance of witnesses or the production 
of documentary and other evidence.
    (d) Actions by Commission.--Whenever a civil action has been 
instituted by or on behalf of the Commission for violation of any rule 
prescribed under section 3 of this Act, no State may, during the 
pendency of such action instituted by or on behalf of the Commission, 
institute a civil action under subsection (a) or (f)(2) of this section 
against any defendant named in the complaint in such action for 
violation of any rule as alleged in such complaint.
    (e) Venue; Service of Process.--Any civil action brought under 
subsection (a) of this section in a district court of the United States 
may be brought in the district in which the defendant is found, is an 
inhabitant, or transacts business or wherever venue is proper under 
section 1391 of title 28, United States Code. Process in such an action 
may be served in any district in which the defendant is an inhabitant 
or in which the defendant may be found.
    (f) Actions by Other State Officials.--
            (1) Construction.--Nothing contained in this section shall 
        prohibit an authorized State official from proceeding in State 
        court on the basis of an alleged violation of any civil or 
        criminal statute of such State.
            (2) Other state actions.--In addition to actions brought by 
        an attorney general of a State under subsection (a) of this 
        section, such an action may be brought by officers of such 
        State who are authorized by the State to bring actions in such 
        State on behalf of its residents.

SEC. 5. EFFECT ON OTHER LAW.

    (a) No Preemption.--Nothing in this Act or the rules prescribed 
under this Act shall be construed to preempt any provision of any law 
of a State or political subdivision of that State that provides 
protections to consumers of funeral services or funeral goods, except 
to the extent that the provision of law is inconsistent with any 
provision of this Act or a rule prescribed under this Act, and then 
only to the extent of the inconsistency.

SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act--
            (1) the term ``cemetery'' means any organization, 
        association or other business that offers for sale the 
        interment, inurnment, or entombment of human remains, but does 
        not include any cemetery that--
                    (A) performs fewer than 25 interments, inurnments, 
                and entombments during any calendar year; or
                    (B) sells fewer than 25 interment, inurnment, or 
                entombment rights during any calendar year;
            (2) the term ``funeral goods'' are the goods which are sold 
        or offered for sale directly to the public for use in 
        connection with funeral services; and
            (3) the term ``funeral services'' means--
                    (A) any services which are sold or offered for sale 
                to the public in order to--
                            (i) care for and prepare deceased human 
                        bodies for burial, cremation, or other final 
                        disposition; or
                            (ii) arrange, supervise, or conduct the 
                        funeral ceremony or the final disposition of 
                        deceased human bodies; or
                    (B) services provided by funeral directors, 
                morticians, cemeterians, cremationists, and retailers 
                of caskets, urns, monuments, and markers.
                                 <all>
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