N.Y. Public Health Law § 3429: Continuing education for funeral directors

§ 3429. Continuing education for funeral directors. 1. Definitions. As

used in this section:

(a) "Biennium" means any two-year period for registration of

individuals licensed to practice funeral directing or embalming in this

state pursuant to section three thousand four hundred twenty-eight of

this title;

(b) "Continuing education" means a course of instruction in a field of

funeral directing, within the subjects listed in subdivision five of

this section, taught by a provider registered with the department under

subdivision four of this section;

(c) "Contact hour" means a period of between fifty and sixty minutes,

continuously measured;

(d) "Provider" means a national, state or local trade association of

funeral directors, a school for funeral directors approved under section

three thousand four hundred twenty-five of this title or, with prior or

provisional approval of course content by the department under

subdivision four of this section, any other person or organization

desiring to offer continuing education;

(e) "Trade association" means an organization, whether incorporated or

not, whose primary class of members consists of ten or more firms under

separate ownerships or twenty individuals in different employment, all

registered under section three thousand four hundred twenty-eight of

this title in an aspect of funeral service, which has been organized and

maintained for at least two years prior to offering continuing education

under this section for the collective benefit of its members.

2. Requirement. (a) Every person who renews a certificate of

registration under section three thousand four hundred twenty-eight of

this title shall file with the department, along with his or her

biennial application for renewal, a certification attesting to the

course or programs of instruction taken and successfully completed by

such person and which clearly demonstrates that the person has completed

the minimum number of hours of continuing education within the current

biennium as set forth in subdivision three of this section.

(b) The department shall provide a certification form which shall

require the following information:

(i) Applicant's full name and registration number;

(ii) Applicant's statement that he or she attended a specified number

of hours of continuing education within the current biennium, consisting

of courses identified by sponsor, date, location, and length of time in

hours; and

(iii) Applicant's signature and date.

(c) This subdivision shall not apply to a funeral director, undertaker

or embalmer who is an inactive registrant pursuant to subdivision nine

of section three thousand four hundred twenty-eight of this title.

3. Minimum hours. The minimum hours of continuing education which an

individual renewing registration must complete are:

(a) to renew for the first biennium commencing on June thirtieth, two

thousand two, six hours within the current biennium concluding on such

date.

(b) to renew for all subsequent biennia, twelve hours within each

biennium, including at least two hours relating to applicable New York

state laws and regulations affecting funeral directing, embalming and

preneed services, which may be provided by the department or a provider

registered pursuant to the provisions of subdivision four of this

section.

4. Provider registration; course content approval. (a) Any person who

is a provider and who desires to offer continuing education shall first

register with the department and pay a registration fee of one hundred

fifty dollars for the first biennium. A provider once registered may

renew the registration for subsequent biennia for a fee of seventy-five

dollars per biennium. The provider shall submit with its registration

fee an affidavit which includes the following information and

statements:

(i) Provider's name, address, telephone number, and, when known, names

of individual instructors;

(ii) Provider's agreement to accept periodic monitoring of its courses

by the department;

(iii) Provider's certification that the contents of each course are

within the scope of subdivision five of this section;

(iv) Provider's commitment to verify attendance at each course and to

maintain attendance records for department inspection for five years;

(v) Provider's commitment to establish a mechanism whereby licensees

may evaluate the quality and content of each course taken as well as the

provider's overall program when requested to do so by the department,

and to maintain records of such evaluations for department inspection

for five years;

(vi) Provider's agreement to submit to the department such evidence as

is necessary to establish compliance with this section;

(vii) Provider's acknowledgment that disapproval by the department of

a particular course or revocation of the provider's registration may

result in nonrecognition of hours of continuing education from that

provider; and

(viii) Provider's signature and date and verification by a notary

public.

(b) A registered provider which is required to obtain prior approval

of courses shall submit to the department a written description of each

course for which approval is requested, at least sixty days prior to the

first date the course is to be offered. If the department does not

disapprove the proposed course within ninety days of its receipt of the

written description and request for approval, the course shall be

considered approved provisionally for six months. Following the six

months of provisional approval, the department may make a final

determination disapproving the course. Notwithstanding such

determination, however, any individuals licensed pursuant to section

three thousand four hundred twenty-eight of this title shall receive

full continuing education credit for any course taken during the period

of provisional approval to fulfill the requirements of this section.

(c) Any provider registered to offer continuing education under this

section shall require each person taking instruction to display or

provide, prior to admission or before the initiation of any such

instruction, personal photo identification in the form of an automobile

driver's license, passport or any other similar form of photo

identification issued by a governmental entity, or a trade association

as defined in this section. The provider may allow the use of a

photocopy of such identification for computer-based or distance learning

instruction.

(d) The department may impose a fine of no less than the biennial

registration fee upon a provider who violates the provisions of this

section. For a second violation, the department may impose an additional

fine of up to five hundred dollars and suspend the registration for the

balance of the biennium. Nothing herein shall prevent the attorney

general from bringing a civil action against any provider offering

continuing education courses without the prior or provisional approval

of the department.

(e) Registered provider status may be revoked by the department if the

reporting requirements contained in this section are not met or, if upon

review of the provider's performance, the department determines that the

content of the course materials, the quality of the continuing education

activities or the provider's performance does not meet the requirements

set forth herein. In such event, the department shall send the provider

by ordinary mail a notice of revocation. The revocation shall take

effect no less than sixty days from the date such mailed revocation is

postmarked. The provider may request a review of such revocation, and

the department shall determine the request within thirty days. The

decision of the department shall be final after such review.

(f) Section twelve of this chapter shall not apply to this section;

provided, however, that any action by the department in suspending or

revoking a provider registration in accordance with this subdivision

shall be reviewable by the supreme court of the state of New York

pursuant to the provisions of article seventy-eight of the civil

practice law and rules.

5. Subjects of continuing education. The subjects of continuing

education may be one or more of the following: aftercare, business

administration, religion, natural sciences, management services, data

processing, organ procurement, preneed services, jurisprudence (federal,

state, and local), restorative arts and embalming, funeral service

counseling, funeral customs, sanitation and infection control, and

hospice and similar outreach programs.

6. Credit for preparation. A licensed funeral director may earn up to

two hours of continuing education credit for preparing an hour of

continuing education that he or she then teaches, and may earn the hour

solely for teaching that material the first time. No one may earn more

than six hours per biennium for preparation and teaching.

7. Classroom time; minimum percentage. A funeral director shall take

at least fifty percent of his continuing education requirement each

biennium in the form of receiving live classroom instruction. The

remainder may be in other forms such as videotape, audiotape,

teleconference, satellite seminars, internet coursework, credits for

preparation, or correspondence coursework.

8. Licensees in other states. A funeral director licensed as such by

the state of New York who is maintaining his or her registration in this

state while residing in another state is subject to the requirements of

this section. The department may grant a non-resident licensee credit

for continuing education as required by the state in which such licensee

resides, provided the department deems them equivalent to New York

continuing education requirements as set forth herein.

9. Late filing; fines; grace period. (a) The department shall impose a

fine equal to the biennial registration fee upon a registrant who fails

to file the certification of continuing education within the time

prescribed under subdivision two of this section, for the first such

late filing. The department shall also allow such a registrant a grace

period of one hundred twenty days into the biennium to comply with this

section and to file the certification. After one hundred twenty days,

the department shall suspend the registration for the balance of the

biennium.

(b) A registrant who violates the filing requirements and deadlines of

this section a second time shall, upon that and any subsequent

violations, be subject to an additional fine of no more than five

hundred dollars and suspension as the department may impose.

(c) A person who holds an inactive certificate of registration who

wishes to reinstate an active registration shall complete twelve hours

of continuing education prior to obtaining such active registration.

(d) A person whose registration has been suspended by the department

for violating the filing requirements contained in this subdivision and

who wishes to gain reinstatement of such registration shall complete

twelve hours of continuing education and pay a reinstatement fee of two

hundred fifty dollars to the department prior to obtaining reinstatement

of such registration.

(e) With respect to paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subdivision, the

department shall send the registrant by ordinary mail a notice of

suspension. The suspension shall take effect no less than sixty days

from the date such mailed suspension is postmarked.

10. Funeral directors shall be exempt from the mandatory continuing

education requirements prescribed herein for the biennium during which

they are first licensed.

11. Enforcement. (a) The department may not renew the registration of

a licensed funeral director who has not complied with this section.

(b) The department may audit at random the certifications of licensees

and the affidavits of providers, and may suspend or revoke the

registration and/or license of a person who has knowingly made a false

statement under oath.