N.Y. Public Health Law § 3428: Funeral directing; registration of licenses; fees

§ 3428. Funeral directing; registration of licenses; fees. 1. (a)

Every person who, within the state, practices as a funeral director,

undertaker or embalmer and every person, partnership or corporation who

or which owns or operates within the state a funeral firm as herein

defined shall biennially apply to the department for an appropriate

certificate of registration and report, in a statement subscribed and

affirmed as true under the penalties of perjury, any facts requested by

the department.

(b) Such report by a corporation also shall set forth the name,

residence address and title of each of its officers and directors and

the name and residence address of each stockholder and other person,

firm and corporation having a ten per centum or greater proprietary,

beneficial, equitable or credit interest therein.

(c) Every such report also shall contain a statement as to whether the

applicant and, if a partnership, any partner and, if a corporation, any

of the officers, directors, stockholders or other persons, firms or

corporations required to be listed therein had been convicted of a crime

in the two year period immediately preceding the date of such

application. Such statement shall identify such crime and the

jurisdiction involved and the disposition of the charge.

(d) Every such report shall contain a statement as to whether the

applicant and, if a partnership, any partner and, if a corporation, any

of the officers, directors, stockholders or other persons, firms or

corporations required to be listed therein, or any funeral firm with

which such applicant, partner, officer, director, stockholder, person,

firm or corporation has been affiliated, has been found in violation of

the provisions of this article or any statute, rule or regulation

relating to funeral directing. Such statement shall identify such

statute, rule or regulation and the disposition of any proceeding

thereon.

(e) In addition to such report, every person, partnership or

corporation herein required to apply for a certificate shall without

delay inform the department by written statement of his conviction, or

of the conviction of any member of the partnership, or, if a

corporation, of the conviction of any of its officers, directors,

stockholders or other persons, firms or corporations required to be

reported as provided by paragraph (b) of this subdivision.

(f) In addition to any report required pursuant to this section, every

person, partnership or corporation herein required to apply for a

certificate of registration pursuant to this article shall provide

notice to the department of the proposed: (i) sale or transfer of all or

substantially all of the assets of a funeral firm, (ii) the sale or

transfer of a controlling interest of such funeral firm, or (iii) the

termination of the business of such funeral firm where there is no

transferee of assets or stock. For purposes of this section, the term

"controlling interest" shall mean a fifty-one percent interest in a

partnership or fifty-one percent of the issued and outstanding shares of

stock of a corporation. In the case of subparagraphs (i) and (ii) of

this paragraph, such notice to the department shall identify the

transferee or transferees of the assets or controlling interest and

contain a listing of the names and addresses of the persons who

deposited moneys with the funeral firm pursuant to section four hundred

fifty-three of the general business law, and the amount to be

transferred to the transferee or transferees. In the case of the

termination, cessation of operation or discontinuation of the firm where

there is no transferee, such notice shall contain a listing of the names

and addresses of the persons who deposited funds with the funeral firm,

the amount held in trust by such funeral firm and the proposed

disposition of the moneys so held by such funeral firm. All such notices

shall be provided to the department not less than ten days after the

sale or transfer of such funeral firm or not less than thirty days prior

to the termination, cessation of operation or discontinuation of the

business of such funeral firm.

2. (a) An undertaker or embalmer shall pay to the department a

biennial registration fee of sixty-two dollars and fifty cents.

(b) A funeral director shall pay a biennial registration fee of one

hundred twenty-five dollars; however, initial registration shall not

require such fee.

(c) Only a registered funeral firm may operate, or engage in the

business and practice of funeral directing. Said business and practice

must be conducted from an approved funeral establishment. In the event a

funeral firm conducts its business from more than one funeral

establishment, the firm must be registered from each such establishment.

In the event more than one firm conducts its business from the same

funeral establishment, each firm must be registered from the

establishment and have an individual manager representing that firm at

that establishment. The initial registration fee for each required

registration is four hundred dollars for the period ending with the then

current biennial registration period, and the biennial registration fee

thereafter is three hundred dollars.

(d) The owner of a funeral firm shall pay a registration fee of one

hundred dollars for the amendment of a certificate of registration to

indicate a change of location, change of manager or change in firm name

thereof.

(e) For failure to register, an additional fee of ten dollars for each

delay of thirty days or part thereof beyond the first day of the

biennial registration period shall be added to the regular fee. The

commissioner may, for good cause shown, waive or compromise all or any

part of this additional fee.

3. (a) Upon verification of the statements thus reported and the

receipt of the requisite fee, the commissioner shall issue a certificate

of registration; except that, in those instances where a conviction

shall have been reported as herein required, or upon other proof

thereof, and in the case of a funeral firm where an applicant or, if a

partnership, any partner or, if a corporation, any of its officers,

directors, stockholders or other persons, firms or corporation required

to be reported as provided by paragraph (b) of subdivision one of this

section, or any funeral firm with which such applicant, partner,

officer, director, stockholder, person, firm or corporation has been

affiliated, has committed repeated violations of the provisions of this

article or any statute, rule or regulation relating to funeral

directing, or has committed a significant violation, as defined by the

commissioner pursuant to rule and regulation, of the provisions of this

article or any statute, rule or regulation relating to funeral

directing, the commissioner may deny an application for a certificate.

(b) The commissioner shall afford the applicant an opportunity to be

heard at a hearing, on due notice, conducted in accordance with the

provisions of this chapter, prior to the issuance of any order or

determination denying such application.

4. The commissioner shall establish by rule and regulation the

beginning date of the biennial registration period. In the event that a

change in the established beginning date of the biennial registration

period requires an adjustment in the duration of a registration period,

there shall be a proportionate adjustment in the prescribed fee.

5. Each licensee who applies for registration as a funeral director,

undertaker or embalmer during the second year of a biennial registration

period shall pay a fee of twenty-five dollars for funeral director

registration or twelve dollars and fifty cents for undertaker

registration, and twelve dollars and fifty cents for embalmer

registration. However, initial registration for funeral directors shall

not require such fee.

6. If any funeral director, undertaker or embalmer continues to

practice, or any owner continues to operate a funeral firm, without

registration, as herein provided, his license or business registration

may be suspended or revoked by the department in accordance with the

provisions of this article.

7. A funeral director, undertaker or embalmer who has been heretofore

duly licensed and registered to practice in this state whose license

shall not have been revoked or suspended, and who either before or after

registration as required by this section shall have temporarily

abandoned the practice of funeral directing, undertaking or embalming,

or shall have removed from the state, may register within the state upon

complying with the provisions of this section for registration, and

also, filing with the department a statement of such facts subscribed

and affirmed by him as true under the penalties of perjury.

8. Every funeral director, undertaker or embalmer shall communicate

with the department in the event that the application blank for

registration fails to reach them.

9. A funeral director, undertaker or embalmer who has been heretofore

duly licensed and registered to practice in this state whose license

shall not have been revoked or suspended and who no longer practices

funeral directing, may apply for an inactive certificate of

registration. The fee for an inactive certificate of registration shall

be the same amount as the regular certificate of registration. Upon

complying with the provisions of this section and section three thousand

four hundred twenty-nine of this title for registration, a regular

certificate of registration shall be reinstated. An inactive registrant

shall be considered duly licensed and registered solely for the purposes

of section three thousand four hundred forty-three of this article,

provided, however, that any such registrant using his or her name in any

advertising or promotional materials shall disclose their inactive

status in such materials.