As Introduced

136th General Assembly

Regular Session H. B. No. 582

2025-2026

To amend sections 4717.01, 4717.12, 4717.24, and 4717.30 of the Revised Code regarding embalmers, funeral directors, and crematories.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:

Section 1. That sections 4717.01, 4717.12, 4717.24, and 4717.30 of the Revised Code be amended to read as follows:

Sec. 4717.01. As used in this chapter:

(A) "Embalming" means the process of chemically treating the dead human body by any of the following to reduce the presence and growth of microorganisms, to temporarily slow organic decomposition, and to restore acceptable physical appearance:

(1) Arterial injection;

(2) Cavity treatment;

(3) Hypodermic tissue injection.

(B) "Funeral business" means a sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, limited liability company, or other business entity that is engaged in funeral directing for profit or for free from one or more funeral homes licensed under this chapter.

(C) "Funeral directing" means the business or profession of directing or supervising funerals for profit from one or more funeral homes licensed under this chapter, the arrangement or sale of funeral services, the filling out or execution of a funeral service contract, the business or profession of preparing dead human bodies for burial by means other than embalming, the disposition of dead human bodies, the provision or maintenance of a place for the preparation, the care, or disposition of dead human bodies, the use in connection with a business of the term "funeral director," "undertaker," "mortician," or any other term from which can be implied the business of funeral directing, or the holding out to the public that one is a funeral director or a disposer of dead human bodies.

(D) "Funeral home" means a fixed place for the care, preparation for burial, or disposition of dead human bodies or the conducting of funerals. Each business location is a funeral home, regardless of common ownership or management.

(E) "Embalmer" means a person who engages, in whole or in part, in embalming and who is licensed under this chapter.

(F) "Funeral director" means a person who engages, in whole or in part, in funeral directing and who is licensed under this chapter.

(G) "Final disposition" has the same meaning as in division (J) of section 3705.01 of the Revised Code.

(H) "Supervision" means the operation of all phases of the business of funeral directing or embalming under the specific direction of a licensed funeral director or licensed embalmer.

(I) "Direct supervision" means the physical presence of a licensed funeral director or licensed embalmer while the specific functions of the funeral or embalming are being carried out.

(J) "Embalming facility" means a fixed location, separate from the funeral home, that is licensed under this chapter whose only function is the embalming and preparation of dead human bodies.

(K) "Crematory facility" means the physical location at which a cremation chamber is located and the cremation process takes place. "Crematory facility" does not include an infectious waste incineration facility for which a license is held under division (B) of section 3734.05 of the Revised Code, or a solid waste incineration facility for which a license is held under division (A) of that section that includes a notation pursuant to division (B)(3) of that section authorizing the facility to also treat infectious wastes, in connection with the incineration of body parts other than dead human bodies that were donated to science for purposes of medical education or research.

(L) "Crematory" means the building or portion of a building that houses the holding facility and the cremation chamber.

(M) "Cremation" means the technical process of using heat and flame to reduce human or animal remains to bone fragments or ashes or any combination thereof. "Cremation" includes processing and may include the pulverization of bone fragments.

(N) "Cremation chamber" means the enclosed space within which cremation takes place.

(O) "Cremated remains" means all human or animal remains recovered after the completion of the cremation process, which may include the residue of any foreign matter such as casket material, dental work, or eyeglasses that were cremated with the human or animal remains.

(P) "Lapsed license" means a license issued under this chapter that has become invalid because of the failure of the licensee to renew the license within the time limits prescribed under this chapter.

(Q) "Crematory operator" means the person who engages, in whole or in part, in cremation from one or more crematories licensed under this chapter and who has been issued a crematory operator permit under this chapter.

(R) "Processing" means the reduction of identifiable bone fragments to unidentifiable bone fragments through manual or mechanical means after the completion of the cremation process.

(S) "Pulverization" means the reduction of identifiable bone fragments to granulated particles by manual or mechanical means after the completion of the cremation process.

~~(T)~~(T)(1) "Preneed funeral contract" means a written agreement, contract, or series of contracts to sell or otherwise provide any funeral services, funeral goods, or any combination thereof to be used in connection with the funeral or final disposition of a dead human body, where payment for the goods or services is made either outright or on an installment basis, prior to the death of the person purchasing the goods or services or for whom the goods or services are purchased. ~~"Preneed~~

(2) "Preneed funeral contract" does not include ~~any~~ either of the following:

(a) Any preneed cemetery merchandise and services contract or any agreement, contract, or series of contracts pertaining to the sale of any burial lot, burial or interment right, entombment right, or columbarium right with respect to which an endowment care fund is established or is exempt from establishment pursuant to section 1721.21 of the Revised Code;

(b) A transportation protection agreement that primarily provides or arranges for services that are related to transporting human remains or cremated remains or preparing such remains for transport.

(3) For the purposes of division (T) of this section, "funeral goods" includes caskets.

(U) "Purchaser" means the individual who has purchased and financed a preneed funeral contract, and who may or may not be the contract beneficiary.

(V) "Contract beneficiary" means the individual for whom funeral goods and funeral services are provided pursuant to a preneed funeral contract.

(W) "Seller" means any person that enters into a preneed funeral contract with a purchaser for the provision of funeral goods, funeral services, or both.

(X) "Felony" means a criminal act classified as a felony by this state, any other state, or federal law.

Sec. 4717.12. (A) The following persons are exempt from the provisions of this chapter:

(1) An officer or employee of the department of health or any board of health, who, in compliance with rules or orders of the department of health or board of health, is preparing the body of a person whose death was caused by a virulent communicable disease;

(2) An officer, employee, or licensed physician of a medical college, when any of these are acting on behalf of a medical college;

(3) Any person carrying out sections 1713.34 to 1713.39 of the Revised Code, prescribing the conditions under which the bodies of indigent persons are held subject for anatomical study;

(4) Any person licensed in another state as a funeral director or embalmer who is assisting a funeral director or embalmer licensed under this chapter during a disaster or an emergency in the state that has been declared by this state or a political subdivision.

(B) This chapter does not prevent or interfere with any of the following:

(1) The ceremonies, customs, religious rights, or religion of any people, denomination, or sect;

(2) Any religious denomination or sect, or any body composed of members of a denomination;

(3) Any church, mosque, temple, or synagogue committee in preparing dead human bodies for burial;

(4) The conducting of funerals and the burial or cremation of dead human bodies in accordance with the ceremonies or rights described in division (B) of this section without the use, employment, or supervision of a licensed embalmer or funeral director, except when the body is that of a person whose death was caused by a virulent communicable disease, in which case the rules of the department of health or board of health having territorial jurisdiction shall apply.

Sec. 4717.24. (A) A cremation authorization form authorizing the cremation of a dead human body, other than one that was donated to science for purposes of medical education or research, shall include at least all of the following information and statements:

(1) A statement that the decedent has been identified in accordance with division ~~(B)~~(C) of this section;

(2) The name of the funeral director or other individual who obtained the burial or burial-transit permit authorizing the cremation of the decedent;

(3) The name of the authorizing agent and the relationship of the authorizing agent to the decedent;

(4) A statement that the authorizing agent in fact has the right to authorize cremation of the decedent and that the authorizing agent does not have actual knowledge of the existence of any living person who has a superior priority right to act as the authorizing agent under section 4717.22 of the Revised Code. If the person executing the cremation authorization form knows of another living person who has such a superior priority right, the authorization form shall include a statement indicating that the person executing the authorization form has made reasonable efforts to contact the person having the superior priority right and has been unable to do so and that the person executing the authorization form has no reason to believe that the person having the superior priority right would object to the cremation of the decedent.

(5) A statement of whether the authorizing agent has actual knowledge of the presence in the decedent of a pacemaker, defibrillator, or any other mechanical or radioactive device or implant that poses a hazard to the health or safety of personnel performing the cremation;

(6) A statement indicating the crematory facility is to cremate the casket or alternative container in which the decedent was delivered to or accepted by the crematory facility;

(7) A statement of whether the crematory facility is authorized to simultaneously cremate the decedent in the same cremation chamber with one or more other decedents who were related to the decedent named in the cremation authorization form by consanguinity or affinity or who, at any time during the one-year period preceding the decedent's death, lived with the decedent in a common law marital relationship or otherwise cohabited with the decedent. A cremation authorization form executed under this section shall not authorize the simultaneous cremation of a decedent in the same cremation chamber with one or more other decedents except under the circumstances described in the immediately preceding sentence.

(8) The names of any persons designated by the authorizing agent to be present in the holding facility or cremation room prior to or during the cremation of the decedent or during the removal of the cremated remains from the cremation chamber;

(9) The authorization for the crematory facility to cremate the decedent and to process or pulverize the cremated remains as is the practice at the particular crematory facility;

(10) A statement of whether it is the crematory facility's practice to return all of the residue removed from the cremation chamber following the cremation or to separate and remove foreign matter from the residue before returning the cremated remains to the authorizing agent or the person designated on the authorization form to receive the cremated remains pursuant to division (A)(11) of this section;

(11) The name of the person who is to receive the cremated remains of the decedent from the crematory facility;

(12) The manner in which the final disposition of the cremated remains of the decedent is to occur, if known. If the cremation authorization form does not specify the manner of the final disposition of the cremated remains, it shall indicate that the cremated remains will be held by the crematory facility for thirty days after the cremation, unless, prior to the end of that period, they are picked up from the crematory facility by the person designated on the cremation authorization form to receive them, the authorizing agent, or, if applicable, the funeral director who obtained the burial or burial-transit permit for the decedent, or are delivered or shipped by the crematory facility to one of those persons. The authorization form shall indicate that if no instructions for the final disposition are provided on the authorization form and that if no arrangements for final disposition have been made within the thirty-day period, the crematory facility may return the cremated remains to the authorizing agent. The authorization form shall further indicate that if no arrangements for the final disposition of the cremated remains have been made within sixty days after the completion of the cremation and if the authorizing agent has not picked them up or caused them to be picked up within that period, the crematory operator or crematory facility may dispose of them in accordance with division (C) of section 4717.27 of the Revised Code.

(13) A listing of the items of value to be delivered to the crematory facility along with the dead human body, if any, and instructions regarding how those items are to be handled;

(14) A statement of whether the authorizing agent has made arrangements for any type of viewing of the decedent or for a service with the decedent present prior to the cremation and, if so, the date, time, and place of the service;

(15) A statement of whether the crematory facility may proceed with the cremation at any time after the conditions set forth in division (A) of section 4717.23 of the Revised Code have been met and the decedent has been received at the facility;

(16) The certification of the authorizing agent to the effect that all of the information and statements contained in the authorization form are accurate;

(17) The signature of the authorizing agent ~~and the signature of at least one witness who observed the authorizing agent execute the cremation authorization form~~.

(B) A cremation authorization form authorizing the cremation of a dead human body, other than one that was donated to science for purposes of medical education or research, may include the signature of a witness who observed the authorizing agent execute the cremation authorization form.

(C) In making the identification of the decedent required by division (A)(1) of this section, the funeral home arranging the cremation shall require the authorizing agent or the agent's appointed representative to visually identify the decedent's remains or a photograph or other visual image of the remains. If identification is by photograph or other visual image, the authorizing agent or representative shall sign the photograph or other visual image. If visual identification is not feasible, other positive identification of the decedent may be used including, but not limited to, reliance upon an identification made through the coroner's office or identification of photographs or other visual images of scars, tattoos, or physical deformities taken from the decedent's remains.

~~(C)~~(D) An authorizing agent who is not available to execute a cremation authorization form in person may designate another individual to serve as the authorizing agent by providing to the crematory facility where the cremation is to occur a written designation~~, signed by the authorizing agent and by a witness who observed the authorizing agent execute the designation,~~ authorizing that other individual to serve as the authorizing agent. Any such written designation shall contain the name of the decedent, the name and address of the authorizing agent, the relationship of the authorizing agent to the decedent, and the name and address of the individual who is being designated to serve as the authorizing agent. Upon receiving such a written designation, the operator shall permit the individual named in the written designation to serve as the authorizing agent and to execute the cremation authorization form authorizing the cremation of the decedent named in the written designation.

~~(D)~~(E) An authorizing agent who signs a cremation authorization form under this section is hereby deemed to warrant the accuracy of the information and statements contained in such authorization form, including the identification of the decedent and the agent's authority to authorize the cremation. A funeral home and its employees are not responsible for verifying the accuracy of any information or statements the authorizing agent made on the authorization form, unless the funeral home or its employees have actual knowledge to the contrary regarding any such information or statement. When delivering the decedent's remains to a crematory facility or in carrying out the disposition in its own facility, the funeral home is responsible for having the decedent identified pursuant to division ~~(B)~~(C) of this section and carrying out the obligations imposed on the funeral home by division (B) of section 4717.29 of the Revised Code.

~~(E)~~(F) At any time after executing a cremation authorization form and prior to the beginning of the cremation process, the authorizing agent who executed the cremation authorization form under division (A) or ~~(C)~~(D) of this section may, in writing, modify the arrangements for the final disposition of the cremated remains of the decedent set forth in the authorization form or may, in writing, revoke the authorization, cancel the cremation, and claim the decedent's body for purposes of making alternative arrangements for the final disposition of the decedent's body. The crematory facility shall cancel the cremation if the crematory facility receives such a revocation before beginning the cremation.

~~(F)~~(G) A cremation authorization form executed under this section does not constitute a contract for conducting the cremation of the decedent named in the authorization form or for the final disposition of the cremated remains of the decedent. The revocation of a cremation authorization form or modification of the arrangements for the final disposition of the cremated remains of the decedent pursuant to division ~~(E)~~(F) of this section does not affect the validity or enforceability of any contract for the cremation of the decedent named in the authorization form or for the final disposition of the cremated remains of the decedent.

Sec. 4717.30. (A) A crematory operator, crematory facility, funeral director, or funeral home is not liable in damages in a civil action for any of the following actions or omissions, unless the actions or omissions were made with malicious purpose, in bad faith, or in a wanton or reckless manner or unless any of the conditions set forth in divisions (B)(1) to (3) of this section apply:

(1)(a) For having arranged or performed the cremation of the decedent, or having released or disposed of the cremated remains, in accordance with the instructions set forth in the cremation authorization form executed by the decedent on an antemortem basis under section 4717.21 of the Revised Code;

(b) For having arranged or performed the cremation of the decedent or body parts removed from the decedent or living person or having released or disposed of the cremated remains in accordance with section 4717.27 of the Revised Code or the instructions set forth in a cremation authorization form executed by the person authorized to serve as the authorizing agent for the cremation of the decedent or for the cremation of body parts of the decedent or living person, named in the cremation authorization form executed under section 4717.24 or 4717.25 of the Revised Code.

(2) For having arranged or performed the cremation of the decedent, or having released or disposed of the cremated remains, in accordance with section 4717.27 of the Revised Code or the instructions set forth in the cremation authorization form executed by a designated agent under division ~~(C)~~(D) of section 4717.24 of the Revised Code.

(B) The crematory operator, crematory facility, funeral director, or funeral home is not liable in damages in a civil action for refusing to accept a dead human body or body parts or to perform a cremation under any of the following circumstances, unless the refusal was made with malicious purpose, in bad faith, or in a wanton or reckless manner:

(1) The crematory operator, crematory facility, funeral director, or funeral home has actual knowledge that there is a dispute regarding the cremation of the decedent or body parts, until such time as the crematory operator, crematory facility, funeral director, or funeral home receives an order of the probate court having jurisdiction ordering the cremation of the decedent or body parts or until the crematory operator, crematory facility, funeral director, or funeral home receives from the parties to the dispute a copy of a written agreement resolving the dispute and authorizing the cremation to be performed.

(2) The crematory operator, crematory facility, funeral director, or funeral home has a reasonable basis for questioning the accuracy of any of the information or statements contained in a cremation authorization form executed under section 4717.21, 4717.24, or 4717.25 of the Revised Code, as applicable, that authorizes the cremation of the decedent or body parts.

(3) The crematory operator, crematory facility, funeral director, or funeral home has any other lawful reason for refusing to accept the dead human body or body parts or to perform the cremation.

(C) A crematory operator, crematory facility, funeral director, or funeral home is not liable in damages in a civil action for refusing to release or dispose of the cremated remains of a decedent or body parts when the crematory operator, crematory facility, funeral director, or funeral home has actual knowledge that there is a dispute regarding the release or final disposition of the cremated remains in connection with any damages sustained, prior to the time the crematory operator, crematory facility, funeral home, or funeral director receives an order of the probate court having jurisdiction ordering the release or final disposition of the cremated remains, or prior to the time the crematory operator, crematory facility, funeral director, or funeral home receives from the parties to the dispute a copy of a written agreement resolving the dispute and authorizing the cremation to be performed.

(D) A crematory operator, crematory facility, funeral director, or funeral home is not liable in damages in a civil action in connection with the cremation of, or disposition of the cremated remains of, any dental gold, jewelry, or other items of value delivered to the crematory facility or funeral home with a dead human body or body parts, unless either or both of the following apply:

(1) The cremation authorization form authorizing the cremation of the decedent or body parts executed under section 4717.21, 4717.24, or 4717.25 of the Revised Code, as applicable, contains specific instructions for the removal or recovery and disposition of any such dental gold, jewelry, or other items of value prior to the cremation, and the crematory operator, crematory facility, funeral director, or funeral home has failed to comply with the written instructions.

(2) The actions or omissions of the crematory operator, crematory facility, funeral director, or funeral home were made with malicious purpose, in bad faith, or in a wanton or reckless manner.

(E)(1) This section does not create a new cause of action against or substantive legal right against a crematory operator, crematory facility, funeral director, or funeral home.

(2) This section does not affect any immunities from civil liability or defenses established by another section of the Revised Code or available at common law to which a crematory operator, crematory facility, funeral director, or funeral home may be entitled under circumstances not covered by this section.

Section 2. That existing sections 4717.01, 4717.12, 4717.24, and 4717.30 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.