After multiple cases of malpractice were uncovered in Colorado’s funeral industry, the state legislature passed a bill to allow inspections of funeral homes and crematories without getting an operator’s permission to enter the premises.

State senators unanimously approved House Bill 1073 on Wednesday, after the bipartisan bill cleared the House of Representatives in a 53-10 vote last month. The bill will now be sent to Gov. Jared Polis for final consideration.

“This bill comes to us under pretty horrific reasons and circumstances,” said bill sponsor Sen. Kerry Donovan, D-Vail. “There were general complaints about the behavior of these individuals that were not respecting the process of death and burial … The state did not have the ability to inspect and respond to those complaints and instead had to take many months to build a case under which they could get a warrant.”

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In 2020, the owners of Sunset Mesa Funeral Home in Montrose were arrested for allegedly selling body parts, and sometimes full bodies, of deceased individuals whose families had brought them to the funeral home to be cremated. Investigators said, from 2010 to 2018, hundreds of unknowing families received ashes composed of concrete, kitty litter and the cremations of strangers.

The next year, two counties away, Lake County Coroner Shannon Kent was arrested after investigators said they found severely decomposed bodies in his funeral home — one which had been dead since 2013 and another, an infant, which was so decomposed it could not be identified. Kent was also accused of keeping unrefrigerated bodies and bags of unlabeled cremains in his funeral homes in Silverthorne, Leadville and Gypsum.

If enacted, the bill would give the Division of Professions and Occupations the power to inspect registered funeral establishments and crematories without getting an operator’s permission to enter the premises if a complaint has been made.

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“This is something we all go through. This very day, our family is dealing with a very reputable funeral home, but not all are,” said bill sponsor Sen. Don Coram, R-Montrose. “I think it is vital that we give this bill full consideration and the families the respect they are due.”

The 10 opponents to the bill — all Republican representatives in the House — argued that the bill is unnecessary because law enforcement can enter funeral homes if they get a warrant. The bill sponsors said complaints aren’t always criminal and receiving probable cause for the prior criminal acts required entry to the premises.

The requirement that inspectors get an operator’s permission to enter is not in place for other establishments, such as hair salons and restaurants.

Bill permits inspection of funeral homes, crematories after ‘atrocities’