By Liz F. Kay .. , Sun reporter|March 25, 2008
In Maryland, the only way to own a funeral home is to be a licensed mortician - or to hold one of about 60 corporate licenses that were grandfathered in when lawmakers in 1945 barred corporations from owning funeral homes.
The result, some say, is that competition is limited and consumers pay too much for funerals in Maryland - as much as $800 more by one estimate. But others say the rules help maintain the highest standards for the industry.
In the aftermath of a federal judge's ruling last fall that the ban on corporate ownership is unconstitutional, state lawmakers are weighing changes to the way the state regulates funeral homes.
The House of Delegates has passed a bill that would scale back the state morticians board to 10 members, with five representing morticians and funeral directors and the other five representing consumers. Morticians now control eight of the 12 seats on the board, which licenses funeral homes.
But a House committee never took up another bill that would have created a task force to study easing the ownership requirements for funeral homes, a measure that was opposed by many existing operators. Instead, the House bill would require the revamped morticians board to report back to the legislature after an appeal of the federal judge's ruling is resolved.
The actions reflect the legislature's reluctance to change a system that some say has protected existing small Maryland businesses, but that critics say has driven up funeral costs in Maryland.
"When you don't have competition, usually the consumer loses out," said Charles S. Brown, a Hagerstown cemetery owner who is the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit and has been working to change the licensing rules for more than a decade.
State law currently allows only licensed morticians - or, if they die, their surviving spouses - to own funeral homes and prohibits them from incorporating. But there is an exception. Fifty-eight corporations were grandfathered in when the law was passed in 1945, and now those licenses can sell for as much as $300,000, a state morticians board member has testified.
Private businesses and national chains mostly hold the grandfathered-in corporate licenses, according to testimony. Some homes are run by surviving spouses, though most are operated by licensed funeral directors who have completed years of training but can't incorporate.
