Colorado cracks down on funeral homes after discoveries of rotting bodies

Lawmakers pass bill to regulate industry after 190 decomposing bodies found in bug-infested facility and another found in hearse

After the discovery of nearly 200 decaying bodies in a Colorado funeral home in October, lawmakers saw the need to tighten the state’s lax funeral home oversight and on Monday passed a bill that – in combination with a second bill that passed last week – would help to regulate the industry.

A series of cases that include sold ashes and fake body parts have devastated hundreds of already grieving families and shed a glaring spotlight on the state’s funeral home regulations, some of the weakest in the nation. The bill passed Monday will head to Governor Jared Polis’s desk after the House considers a minor change by the Senate.