Cemetery Oversight Task Force – Report and Recommendations to Governor Pat Quinn

Link to the Report and Recommendations


On September 15, 2009 The Cemetery Oversight Task Force (COTF) fulfilled a request by the Governor to look into the laws of Illinois and other states in addition to the opinions of State’s most influential leaders in the cemetery, funeral and embalming industries and from many members of the public affected by the Burr Oak Cemetery tragedy. This Task Force met over the period of two months to make a series of recommendations to the Governor. The following information is the recommendations that were made by the task force and my synopsis of the recommendations. I deemed it worthwhile to summarize those recommendations as the document containing the recommendation is 82 pages in length. The average reader has little to no interest in reading this length of document. As indicated above, there is a link to the “Report and Recommendations” above that you may use to read the whole document for yourself. Look for summaries for each recommendation in posts to follow. This post will summarize the first recommendation and following posts will summarize additional recommendations. Please feel free to leave comments on this act and any information you may wish to know. I will do my best to provide either the information, or a place where you can find the information for yourself.


Recommendation No. 1: Consolidation of regulatory Authority of Funeral and Burial Practices into the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.
• Current regulation in Illinois is divided between two state agencies
     o The Department of Financial and Professional Regulation has jurisdiction over funeral directors and embalmers
     o The Comptroller has jurisdiction over most other aspects of for-profit death care industry, including laws relating to pre-need cemetery and funeral purchases, cemetery care funds, the protection of cemetery property, cemetery associations, and crematories.

This segmentation of duties is confusing to the consumer and therefore COTF recommends that Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (The Department) has regulation over all funeral and burial practices.