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ICCFA Speaking For You
The ICCFA does what no cemetery or funeral home can do alone: We speak for the entire industry. Congress looks to us when an expert on our industry is needed. The ICCFA keeps members informed of relevant legislative and legal activities through several vehicles, including "Washington Report," a column that appears monthly in ICCFA Magazine and WIRELESS, a bi-weekly e-mail newsletter.
Some of the recent government and legal advocacy efforts the ICCFA has undertaken on behalf of the profession include:
March 10, 2008: FTC Announces Closing of Funeral Rule Regulatory Review As the only trade association in the industry that advocated against expanding the FTC Funeral Rule to include cemeteries, the ICCFA was pleased to see this 10-year review proceeding come to a close with no expansion of the rule.
December 2007: The ICCFA Joins the Tax Relief Coalition, a group of more than 1,000 trade associations, business organizations and corporations, to oppose the expiration of certain beneficial tax rates and a proposed tax code overhaul in Congress.
November 2007: U.S. Government Gives Priority to Death Care Providers for Pandemic Flu Vaccination The Mass Fatalities Management Services Sub-Council, which is co-chaired by the ICCFA and the National Funeral Directors Association, had urged the federal government to give a high-priority status to vaccinating funeral service providers for pandemic purposes. An original priority list by the government broke priorities down into 21 categories, with funeral directors listed in the very last category. The federal government later upgraded the priority of vaccinating funeral directors and other death care providers in the event of an outbreak.
July 31, 2007: ICCFA Testifies on Restoring Veterans Burial Benefits The ICCFA testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Veterans Affairs, Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs, to urge action on H.R.1273. This bill was introduced by Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV) at the request of the ICCFA to restore the plot allowance and marker cash reimbursement allowance for veterans who choose interment in private, religious and municipal cemeteries.
June 26, 2007: Union Bill, Employee Free Choice Act, Killed in U.S. Senate The controversial Employee Free Choice Act, S. 1041, a bill that would abolish secret ballot elections for workers in deciding whether or not to unionize, was "killed" for the time being in the U.S. Senate. The ICCFA had joined the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, an advocacy group sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, to oppose this legislation due to its restriction on employees' constitutional rights, the imposition of mandatory binding arbitration on collective bargaining, and significant new fines against employers.
April 24, 2007: ICCFA Submits 'Friend of Court' Brief in Maryland Federal Litigation on Funeral Home Ownership In the case of Brown v. Hovatter, the ICCFA submitted a brief regarding the fact that "87 percent of funeral homes that have employees are organized as corporations according to the 2002 census. ... The Morticians Act ... discriminates against and burdens interstate commerce by preventing virtually any out-of-state ICCFA member from entering the Maryland funeral home market." The brief cited several federal court decisions involving similar restrictions in other states' laws governing other industries that had been found unconstitutional.
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