A 1996 task force recommended abandoning the corporation prohibition. In 2004, the Federal Trade Commission weighed in, stating that the law restricted entry by new businesses.
"By barring corporate ownership, Maryland limits participation to those individuals who have, or are personally able to obtain, sufficient capital to purchase or build a funeral home," according to a 2004 letter.
But previous bills to change the rules were not passed.
Del. Hattie N. Harrison, a Baltimore Democrat who has reportedly blocked previous efforts to ease the ownership rules, did not return several phone calls for comment. She told The Washington Post two years ago that the law protected smaller operators in Maryland.
Opponents of the state's system filed a suit in federal court against the state morticians' board in 2006, saying the law illegally limits competition by restricting the number of funeral homes statewide.
U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett ruled in October that the provision preventing most corporations from owning funeral homes was unconstitutional. However, he affirmed the requirement to have only licensed morticians own funeral homes.
Funerals cost nearly $800 more in Maryland than in nine states with less strict regulations, including Florida, Washington and California, according to one study.
"What's going on in Maryland is one example of a nationwide problem," said Joshua Slocum, executive director of the Funeral Consumers Alliance, a Vermont nonprofit organization. Businesses are using licensing laws created to protect the consumer to instead shield "entrenched business owners from competition."
"Maryland's system is broken, and it's quite corrupt," he said, adding, "The grieving consumer ends up paying the price in higher prices and less choice."
Although Slocum said he is not a fan of large, publicly traded funeral home chains, he said the ban on incorporated homes discourages alternative providers from entering the market.
The current rules also effectively prevent cemeteries from owning funeral homes, said Brown, the president of Rest Haven Cemetery in Hagerstown and vice president of the Maryland Free State Cemetery and Funeral Association.
"Cemeteries are reluctant to build a funeral home in their cemetery if it's not going to be there forever," Brown said.
