Chap. 127.—-An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 1715, 1716, 1718, 1719, 1720,
1721, 1722, 1723, 1724, 1725 and 1726 of the Code of Virginia, 1919, as hereto-
fore amended, and to add eleven new sections to the Code of Virginia, to be
known and designated as sections 1715 (1), 1719-a, 1720-a, 1720-b, 1720-c,
1721-a, 1721-b, 1724-a, 1726-a, 1726-b and 1726-c, relating to the State Board
of Embalmers and Funeral Directors, changing the name of said board from
State Board of Embalming to State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors
of Virginia, providing for the appointment and terms of members of said board,
for the qualification of said members as to how said members shall qualify,
for the meetings of said board, the election of officers of said board, for the
adoption of rules and regulations by said board, for the establishment and
conduct of schools; fixing the per diem of the members of said board, the
compensation of its officers; prescribing the powers and duties of said board;
authorizing the appointment of an inspector and providing for his authority
and duties; providing for the qualification of applicants for a license, exami-
nation and licensing of embalmers, funeral directors and assistant funeral
directors and the fees therefor; to prohibit false statements by applicants; to
prohibit bribery and certain deceptive, misleading, improbable and unethical
advertising, and to prescribe penalties for the violation thereof; to require a
license of persons employed by firms and corporations; to provide for the
refusal, suspension or revocation of licenses and for appeals therefrom; to
prohibit certain transactions between funeral directors and embalmers and
burial associations and to provide penalties for the violation thereof; to
require all funds collected by the State board to be paid into the State
treasury, there to be retained until appropriated by law; to prescribe what
shall constitute violations of this chapter and the penalties therefor; to pre-
scribe certain definitions and to authorize the board to adopt certain rules
and regulations; to provide for certain exceptions and exclusions from the act;
and to declare each part of this act severable; and to repeal section 1717 of
the Code of Virginia relating to membership of the State Board of Health.

[H B 133]

Approved March 7, 1936

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That sec-
tions seventeen hundred and fifteen, seventeen hundred and sixteen,
seventeen hundred and eighteen, seventeen hundred and nineteen,
seventeen hundred and twenty, seventeen hundred and twenty-one,
seventeen hundred and twenty-two, seventeen hundred and twenty-
‘three, seventeen hundred and twenty-four, seventeen hundred and
twenty-five and seventeen hundred and twenty-six of the Code of
Virginia, nineteen hundred and nineteen, as heretofore amended, be
amended and re-enacted, and that eleven new sections be added to the
Code of Virginia, to be known and designated as sections seventeen
hundred and fifteen (one), seventeen hundred and nineteen-a, seven-
teen hundred and twenty-a, seventeen hundred and twenty-b, seven-
teen hundred and twenty-c, seventeen hundred and twenty-one-a,
seventeen hundred and twenty-one-b, seventeen hundred and twenty-
four-a, seventeen hundred and twenty-six-a, seventeen hundred and
twenty-six-b, and seventeen hundred and twenty-six-c, which said
amended and re-enacted Code sections and new Code sections read
as follows:

Section 1715 (1) Exceptions and exclusions from the provisions
of this act. Nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed to
apply to any merchant or manufacturer who does nothing more than
sell caskets and cases and deliver same to house or body to grave
and who does not hold himself out as a funeral director or engage in
the business or practice of a funeral director. Nor shall anything in
this chapter be construed to apply to the burial of dead bodies of
paupers or inmates of State institutions when buried at the expense
of the State or a political subdivision thereof.

Section 1715. State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Direct-
ors—continued——The name of the State Board of Embalmers of
Virginia is hereby changed to the State Board of Embalmers and
Funeral Directors of Virginia. The board as constituted when this
amendment takes effect shall continue in existence, and the terms of
office of the members thereof shall continue for the time for which
they were respectively appointed. (Eighteen hundred and ninety-three
and eighteen hundred and ninety-four, page seven hundred and
twenty-seven. )

Section 1716. Of whom composed and how appointed——The
board shall consist of five members to be appointed by the Governor
for terms of five years from July first, one appointment to be made
annually as the terms of the members respectively expire, and all
vacancies occurring on the board shall be filled by the Governor.
Each appointment on the board, except to fill a vacancy, shall be
selected from three names sent to the Governor by the Virginia Fun-
eral Directors’ Association, but if the said nominations are not made
to the Governor by June twentieth of any year, then the Governor
shall appoint and commission a suitable person as the successor of
the member whose term expires on July first of that year. The mem-
bers of said State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors of Vir-
ginia shall be residents of this State, each of whom shall be a licensed
embalmer and practicing funeral director with a minimum of at least
five years experience in the practice of embalming and in the care of
and disposition of dead human bodies in this State. The Governor
shall have power to remove from office any member of said board
for neglect of duty, incompetency, or improper conduct.

Section 1718. Qualifications of members—-The Governor shall
furnish each person appointed to serve on the State Board of Em-
balmers and Funeral Directors of Virginia a certificate of appoint-
ment. The appointee shall qualify by taking the oath of office pre-
scribed by section two hundred and sixty-nine of the Code of Vir-
ginia before the clerk of the circuit court of the county, or corporation
court of the city in which the said person may reside, within ten
days after said appointment has been made, and this fact shall be
noted on the certificate of appointment and shall be certified to the
secretary of the State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors
of Virginia.

Section 1719. Meetings of board; election of officers; rules and
regulations ; schools——The said board shall meet at least twice in
each year and may meet as often as the proper and efficient discharge
of its duties shall require. Three shall constitute a quorum. Said
board shall have the power to select out of its own members a pres-
ident, and from its own members or otherwise, a secretary-treasurer.
They shall serve for one year and until their successors shall be
elected and have qualified. Each member shall be reimbursed for
his necessary traveling expenses and the necessary expense incident
to his attendance upon the business of the board, and in addition
thereto the sum of eight dollars per diem for each day actually spent
by such members upon the business of the board. The secretary
shall receive and be paid such annual salary as may be fixed by the
board not to exceed eighteen hundred dollars per annum, the amount
and method of payment of which shall be fixed by said board and
in addition thereto the secretary shall receive his necessary travel-
ing and other expenses incurred in the performance of his necessary
duties, All such expenses, per diem, and compensation shall be paid
out of the receipts of the board.

The board may employ an attorney, subject to the written ap-
proval of the Attorney General, and such clerical and other help or
assistance as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this
chapter, and the terms of such employment shall be determined by
the board.

The expenses of the board shall at no time exceed the receipts
thereof.

The board shall, from time to time, make and adopt such rules,
regulations and by-laws for its government and for the carrying out
and enforcement of the provisions of this chapter as may be necessary
and as are consistent with the laws of this State. The board shall
adopt a common seal. The president of said board (and in his absence
the president pro tempore elected by the members present) is author-
ized to administer oaths to witnesses testifying before the board.

The board may conduct, approve or aid in the conducting of
schools for teaching embalming, funeral directing, and_ scientific
branches relating thereto out of its own funds but shall not thereby
reduce the funds of said board below the sum of three hundred dol-
lars.

The president of the Board, or any members designated by the
board, shall have power and authority to issue subpoenas for funeral
directors or embalmers or persons holding themselves out as such, or
for any other person whose testimony, in the judgment of the board,
is necessary for any hearing which it is authorized to hold. Such
subpoenas shall require said person or persons to attend before the
board or any member thereof designated, upon any hearing conducted
under authority of this chapter. The penalty for disobedience to the
command of such subpoena shall be by fine not exceeding twenty-five
dollars, to be imposed by any justice of the peace, trial justice, police
justice or circuit or corporation court of the county or city in which
such offense is committed.

The secretary-treasurer of the board shall give bond to the Com-
monwealth of Virginia with corporate surety in such sum as the
board shall direct. Said bond shall be conditioned for the faithful
discharge of the duties of such officer, and with the approval of the
board endorsed thereon, certified by the president, shall be deposited
with the State Treasurer.

Section 1719-a. Appointment of inspector—authority and duties.
—The board may appoint an agent whose designation shall be: “In-
spector of the Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors of Vir-
ginia,” and no person shall be eligible for appointment to such office
unless he shall at said time be a licensed embalmer in the State of
Virginia, and unless, prior to the time of such appointment, he has
had not less than five years consecutive experience both as an embalmer
and as a funeral director, or assistant funeral director.

Said inspector shall hold office during the pleasure of said board,
and his duties shall be, and said inspector hereby is authorized, to
enter the office, premises, establishment or place of business of any
embalmer or funeral director in the State of Virginia, or any office,
premises, establishment or place of business where embalming or
funeral directing is carried on, for the purpose of inspecting said
office, premises, establishments or place of business, and for the pur-
pose of inspecting the license and registration of embalmers, funeral
directors, and apprentices operating therein. Said inspector is further
authorized to serve and execute any papers or process issued by the
board or any officer or member thereof under authority of this act,
and also to perform any other duty or duties prescribed or ordered
by the board. Said inspector shall receive such compensation as
the board may determine, payable only out of the receipts of the
board,

Section 1720. Embalmers; Licenses; qualification of applicants ;
examinations.—Every resident of this State hereafter desiring to en-
gage in the practice of embalming dead human bodies within the
Commonwealth of Virginia, who is at least twenty-one years of age
and has graduated from a school of embalming approved by the State
Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors, who has had two years
training as an apprentice under an embalmer duly licensed under the
provisions of this chapter and who establishes by proof satisfactory
to the board that he has actually embalmed not less than twenty-five
dead human bodies under the supervision of a licensed embalmer,
shall make written application to the State Board of Embalmers
and Funeral Directors for a license on forms furnished by the board,
which application shall be sworn to before a notary public or other
officer authorized to administer oaths and shall accompany the
same with a license fee of twenty-five dollars. Thereafter the ap-
plicant shall present himself before said board at a time and place
to be fixed by the board, and if the board shall find, upon due ex-
amination, that the applicant is of good moral character, possessed
of the qualifications required by this section and possessed of the skill
and knowledge of said science of embalming and care and disposition
of the dead and has a reasonable knowledge of sanitation and dis-
infection of the bodies of deceased persons, of the apartment, cloth-
ing and bedding in cases of death from infectious or contagious
diseases, the board shall issue to said applicant a license to practice
the science of embalming and the care and disposition of the dead
and shall register such applicant as a duly licensed embalmer. Such
license shall be signed by a majority of the board and attested by its
seal. All persons receiving a license under the provisions of this
section shall also register the fact at the office of the board of health
of the city or county in which he resides or conducts his business
and, where there is no board of health, with the clerk of the circuit
court of the county or corporation in which he proposes to engage
in practice and shall display said license in a conspicuous place in
the office from which his practice is conducted.

Section 1720-a. Funeral directors; assistant funeral directors;
licenses, et cetera——Every person engaging in the practice or busi-
ness of funeral directing or undertaking shall obtain a license from
the State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors. Upon the pay-
ment of the fee prescribed by this chapter every person now engaged
in the practice or business of funeral directing shall receive a license
from the State board. From and after the taking effect of this chap-
ter no person shall engage in the practice or business of funeral di-
recting or undertaking unless he shall have been licensed by the
State board. No person not engaged in the practice or business of
funeral directing or undertaking at the time this chapter takes effect
shall be entitled to a license to engage in the practice or business of
funeral directing or undertaking, unless he has served as an assist-
ant to a funeral director or undertaker for at least two years prior
to being licensed, is of a good moral character, is at least twenty-
one years of age, and passes such examination as shows that he is
possessed of a reasonable knowledge of sanitation and disinfection of
bodies of deceased persons where death is caused by an infectious, con-
tagious, or communicable disease, and has complied with all the require-
ments and regulations of the board applying to funeral directors and
undertakers. Every person desiring a license as a funeral director or
undertaker shall make written application to the board in which shall be
stated the name, age and place of business of the applicant, the length of
time and place where he has been employed as a funeral director or
undertaker or where he has been employed as an assistant to a funeral
director or undertaker, in which latter case the applicant shall state
the name of such funeral director or undertaker and shall state the
length of time such applicant served as an assistant to said funeral
director or undertaker. Said application shall also contain such other
information as may be required by the State board. Such application
shall be accompanied by a license fee of twenty-five dollars. When
the applicant has complied with the provisions of this section, the
board shall issue to said applicant a license to practice funeral direct-
ing or undertaking and shall thereupon register such applicant as
a duly licensed funeral director, which license shall be signed by a
majority of the board and attested by its seal. Every person receiv-
ing a license under the provisions of this section shall register said
license at the office of the board of health of the county or city in
which his business is conducted, and where there is no board of
health, shall register said license with the clerk of the circuit court
of the county or city in which such business is conducted. Said
license shall be displayed in a conspicuous place in the office of the
licensee,

No person shall be employed as an assistant funeral director
until he shall be licensed by the State Board of Embalmers and Fun-
eral Directors. No person not engaged as an assistant funeral di-
rector at the time this chapter takes effect shall be entitled to a
license to engage in the practice or business of an assistant funeral
director, unless he is of good moral character, is at least twenty-one
years of age and passes such examination before the State Board of
Embalmers and Funeral Directors as shows that he is possessed of a
reasonable knowledge of sanitation and disinfection of bodies of de-
ceased persons where death is caused by an infectious, contagious
or communicable disease, and has complied with all the requirements
and regulations of the board applying to assistant funeral directors.
Each original application for a license as an assistant funeral director
shall be accompanied by a fee of five dollars which shall be paid to the
treasurer of the board. No examination shall be required of any person
engaged in the business of funeral directing or assisting a funeral director
at the time this chapter becomes effective, but all other persons shall
take such examination as the board may require as a prerequisite to the
granting of a license.

Section 1720-b. Expiration and renewal of licenses.—All licenses
issued to embalmers and funeral directors and assistant funeral
directors shall expire on the thirty-first day of December of each
year. At least thirty days prior to the expiration of such license
each person desiring to continue the practice of embalming or fun-
eral directing or as assistant funeral director shall apply to the board
for a renewal of such license. Said application shall be made in such
form as is required by the rules and regulations of the board and
each application shall be accompanied by a license fee of five dol-
lars in the case of a funeral director, three dollars in the case of
an assistant funeral director, and five dollars in the case of an em-
balmer. All licenses shall be non-transferable and shall be registered
with the local board of health. The license fee for the renewal of a
license shall be, in the case of a funeral director, five dollars; in the
case of an assistant funeral director, three dollars; and in the case
of an embalmer, five dollars, which license fees shall be paid on or
before the fifteenth day of January of each year.

The original license required by section seventeen hundred and
twenty-a of this chapter shall be granted by the board upon the
payment of the original license fee of twenty-five dollars without
examination to any person now engaged in the practice or business
of funeral directing, and such person shall be entitled to renewal of
said license without examination upon the payment of the license
fee prescribed by this section. A license shall be granted to any as-
sistant funeral director now engaged as such without examination
upon the payment of the license fee prescribed by this section, and
thereafter such person shall be entitled to a renewal of such license
upon the payment of the license fee prescribed by this section. No
additional license fee shall be required of an embalmer who has been
licensed for the year nineteen hundred and thirty-five, but any such
person shall be required to obtain a license for the year nineteen
hundred and thirty-six and all years subsequent thereto as a_ pre-
requisite to practicing the science of embalming.

Section 1720-c. False statements to board: bribery; illegal adver-
-

tising—(a) No applicant for an embalmer’s license shall present to
the State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors of Virginia
any written statement, signed either by himself or any other person
which is misleading or untrue. (b) No licensed funeral director or
any member of his firm or employee or agent thereof, or licensed em-
balmer shall, directly or indirectly, offer or give any money or other
valuable consideration to any person for soliciting, suggesting, adver-
tising, requesting or inducing any person to employ him as a funeral
director or embalmer. (c) No person shall receive, directly or in-
directly, any money or other valuable consideration for soliciting, sug-
gesting, advertising, requesting or inducing any person to engage,
employ or arrange with any licensed funeral director or licensed em-
balmer for the funeral of any person or burial of any deceased body.
(d) No person, except a licensed funeral director or licensed embalmer,
shall advertise on any billhead, sign or card, or orally, or in any other
manner, that he is competent, willing or desirous to arrange for or to con-
duct funerals. (e) No licensed funeral director or licensed embalmer shall
advertise in any manner which shall be deceptive, misleading,
improbable or unethical. ({) Any person who shall violate any
provision of this section shall be fined not less than twenty-five nor
more than five hundred dollars, or by confinement in jail not less than
thirty days nor more than twelve months, either or both for each
offense.

Section 1721. Member of firm or manager of corporation engaged
in funeral directing to be licensed; embalmers or funeral directors
licensed in other states—At least one member of every firm and the
manager of each place of business conducted by any corporation that
desires to engage in the business or practice of funeral directing,
shall be a licensed funeral director, but no assistant, no member of
any firm, and no officer or employee of any corporation shall engage
in the care, preparation, disposal and burial of dead human bodies,
or the management of burials, or the discharge of any of the duties
of a funeral director, unless he shall be a licensed funeral director
under the provisions of this chapter; provided, however, that an as-
sistant or a member of a firm or an officer or employee of a corpora-
tion licensed as an assistant funeral director may perform any of the
acts aforesaid. No person shall hold himself out as an embalmer or
discharge any duty or function connected with the embalming of
dead human bodies, unless such person has been duly licensed as an
embalmer by the State board under the provisions of this chapter ;
provided, however, that a student embalmer may assist a duly licensed
embalmer in the embalming of dead human bodies.

The board may recognize licenses issued to embalmers or funeral
directors by State boards of embalming and State health authorities
of other states; and upon the presentation of such licenses and the
payment of a fee of twenty-five dollars, may issue to the lawful hold-
ers thereof the embalmer’s or funeral director’s license herein pro-
vided for. Such reciprocal license shall be renewed annually upon
the payment of such renewal fee fixed by section seventeen hundred
and twenty-b upon the same terms and conditions as provided herein
and the rules and regulations of the said board of renewal. No person
shall be entitled to a reciprocal license as a funeral director or em-
balmer, unless he gives proof that he has, in the State in which he
is legally licensed, complied with requirements substantially equal to
those set out in this chapter relating to funeral directing and em-
balming.

Section 172l-a. When board to refuse, suspend or revoke license-
appeal.—The board may refuse to grant, may suspend, or may re-
voke any license granted to any person for any of the following reasons :

(a) If the applicant therefor or holder thereof obtained said li-
cense by fraud or misrepresentation, either in the application for said
license or in passing the examination therefor:

(b) If the applicant therefor or holder thereof has been convicted
of a felony or crime involving moral turpitude.

(c) If the applicant therefor or holder thereof has been guilty
of wilfully violating any section of this chapter or any rule or reg-
ulation of the State, district, or local board of health governing the
disposition of dead human bodies.

No action to suspend, revoke, or cancel any license shall be taken
by the board until the accused has been furnished with a statement
of the charges against him and notice of the time and place of hear-
ing thereof, the furnishing of such notice and the charges to be given
said accused at least thirty days prior to the date of hearing. H,
upon such hearing, the board finds the charges true, it may revoke
or suspend the license of the accused person.

Any person who has been refused a license for any cause other
than failure to pass the examination, or whose license has been re-
voked or suspended, shall have the right of appeal to the corpora-
tion court of the city, or circuit court of the county, as the case may
be, in which he resides, either in term or vacation and a trial de novo.

Section 1722. Expenses, salary and per diem of members.—All
expenses, salary and per diem to members of this board shall be
paid from fees received under the provisions of this chapter, and
shall in no manner be an expense to the State. All monies received
shall be paid into the State treasury to be appropriated therefrom by
the General Assembly.

Section 1723. Violations of chapter; penalties therefor.—lIt shall
be unlawful for any person to engage in the profession or business
of embalming or funeral directing or as an assistant funeral director
as defined in this chapter, unless he is duly licensed as an embalmer
or funeral director or assistant funeral director within the meaning
of this chapter, and any person who shall engage in either business
or profession or both without having first complied with the provis-
ions of this chapter shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon con-
viction thereof in any court having jurisdiction of misdemeanor cases,
shall be fined’ not less than fifty dollars nor more than one hundred
dollars for each any every offense.
Section 1724. Exceptions to operation of chapter—Nothing in
this chapter shall apply to or in any manner interfere with the duties
of any officer of local or State institutions.

Section 1724-a. Relating to burial associations and dealings
therewith——No funeral director nor embalmer shall directly or in-
directly offer or give any money or other valuable consideration to
any burial association, whether incorporated or not, or to any other
person for soliciting, suggesting, advising, requesting or inducing
any person to employ him as a funeral director or embalmer. No
burial association, whether incorporated or not, and no other person
corporate or natural shall receive directly or indirectly any money
or other valuable consideration for soliciting, suggesting, advising,
requesting or inducing any person to engage, employ or arrange with
any funeral director or embalmer for the funeral of any person or
burial or cremation of any deceased body. A violation of any pro-
vision of this section shall be a misdemeanor, and any person violat-
ing the same, either singly, or in conjunction with any other person,
shall be fined not less than twenty-five nor more than five hundred
dollars, or by confinement in jail not less than thirty days nor more
than twelve months, either or both, for each offense.

Section 1725. Dead bodies for instruction.—Schools for teaching
embalming under the direction of the board shall have extended to
them the same privileges as to the use of the bodies for dissecting
while teaching as those granted in this State to medical colleges, but
such bodies shall be obtained through the State Anatomical Board.

Section 1726. Definitions—For the purpose of this chapter, the
term “embalming” shall be construed to mean the preservation and
disinfection, or attempted preservation and disinfection, of the dead
human body by application of chemicals externally, or internally, or
both. The term “funeral directing” or “funeral director” as used in
this chapter shall be construed to mean the business or profession
of directing or supervising funerals for profit, or the business or pro-
fession of preparing dead human bodies for burial by means other
than embalming, or the disposition of dead human bodies; or the pro-
vision or maintenance of a place for the preparation for disposition
or for the care or disposition of dead human bodies, or the use in
connection with a business of the word or term “funeral director,”
“undertaker,” “mortician” or any other word or term from which
can be implied the business of funeral directing; or the holding out
to the public that one is a funeral director.

Section 1726-a. Board may adopt rules——-The board shall from
time to time adopt rules, regulations and by-laws not inconsistent
with the laws of this State or of the United States, in accordance
with which the duties of said board shall be performed and the prac-
tice of embalming dead human bodies and of disinfecting bodies of
persons deceased from any contagious or infectious disease shall
be conducted.

Section 1726-b. Provisions of this chapter declared severable;
effect of invalidity of any portion of this chapter.—I{ any provision,
paragraph or sentence of this chapter shall be held to be unconstitu-
tional or invalid or unenforceable, such unconstitutional, invalid,
or unenforceable provision, paragraph or sentence shall be considered
severable from the remainder of this chapter, although contained
in sections containing other provisions and shall be excinded from
this act; and the fact that said provision, paragraph or sentence shall
be held to be unconstitutional, invalid, or unenforceable, shall in no
wise affect any other provision of this chapter, although contained in
the same section, the General Assembly hereby declaring that all sec-
tions of this chapter or parts thereof are independent sections, para-
graphs, sentences and parts of sections and that it would have passed
the remaining sections, paragraphs, sentences and parts of sections
of said chapter and each provision thereof, notwithstanding the uncon-
stitutionality, invalidity or unenforceability of any other portion thereof.

Section 1726-c. Definition of word “board.”—Whenever the word
“board” is used in this chapter, it shall be construed to mean and refer
to the “State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors of Virginia.”

2. Be it further enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia,
That section seventeen hundred and seventeen of the Code of Vir-
ginia be, and the same is hereby, repealed.