At its Annual Meeting in the summer of 1997,
I was asked by the Virginia Cemetery Association (“VCA”) to become its Legislative Chairman. Although a busy practicing attorney and working in several positions at our family-owned cemetery, I agreed after being told that “hardly anything ever happens, and if something comes up, we have a lobbyist in Richmond to help us.” Lawyers work with clients based on existing laws and rarely know anything about making laws. But I accepted the position not knowing what would lie ahead.

Several months later, while on a much-needed vacation fishing in the Bahamas with my brother, I received a panic call and demand from my father to “get back here… all hell has broken loose.” It turned out that, on the last day to introduce legislation in the January 1998 session of the Virginia General Assembly, a new group of funeral directors had blindsided us with a lengthy, well thought out bill for comprehensive regulation of Virginia cemeteries. I was further told that “the Legislators are already starting to vote on the measure, and it hasn’t been printed yet.”

Today, the “death care profession” is rather comprehensive with the advent of large corporations owning both cemeteries and funeral homes. Before that, cemeteries and funeral homes were like “cats and dogs” largely due to competing for business over the same products with families they serve like grave vaults and markers. For years cemeteries were under the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. If a complaint was made against a cemetery, the Department only had the ability to send a letter. If the cemetery ignored it, they were warned to respond or “we’ll send another letter.” There was no enforcement mechanism. Funeral directors complained that “we have a State Board, regulations and discipline, why do these cemeteries get away with nothing?” The new proposal sought to put cemeteries under the control of the Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers with cemeteries having one seat on the Board (i.e., no power).

As it turned out, the VCA lobbyist at the time lost touch with contacts at the legislature and we were unprepared to respond to the crisis. So, as I was returning from the Bahamas to Richmond, my father engaged Lane Kneedler, a well-respected lawyer/lobbyist.

Mr. Kneedler quickly observed that cemeteries were going to lose and “you will get a Board.” So, we attended all the hearings desperately trying to fight back on many provisions in the bill when we received a stroke of luck. It turned out that the Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers was under the Department of Health Professions. They concluded that cemeteries are not a “health profession” and wouldn’t take us. Instead, we fell under the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (“DPOR”), a “catch all” Board overseeing miscellaneous businesses. The best part of this development was that professions under DPOR had independent Boards run largely by members of that profession and a citizen member or two. There were two results of the 1998 Legislative Session. First, “for profit” cemeteries ended up being licensed and regulated by a new State Cemetery Board with a new set of comprehensive laws and regulations (but with a Board controlled by cemeterians). Second, the VCA needed to recover from this attack and develop a more formidable presence in Richmond. Mr. Kneedler’s first advice was to identify key legislators we needed to know and have cemeteries located throughout Virginia to reach out and personally meet them. Mr. Kneedler helped set up a series of meetings with legislators attended by the local cemeterian – at the cemetery if possible – and a member of the VCA Legislative Committee for a tour and education about the cemetery, how the business is run, and establishing a relationship.

At the next VCA Annual Meeting, we also received a presentation by Bernie Henderson, an experienced Virginia regulator who had observed us during the proceeding Session with this message: “You need to establish a legislative agenda.” Mr. Kneedler helped with this by saying “Now that you are gearing up with these contacts with legislators, we need to put them to use. We don’t want to just fight legislation in Richmond, let’s get some pro-cemetery laws put in.”

VCA members were asked their thoughts on potential new laws, and we reached out to our national association and other states on what had been accomplished already, we assembled a “wish list” and went about having our own bills introduced by our new Legislator “friends.” Over the next few years, the VCA had the following pro-cemetery laws enacted:

• Recovery of abandoned interment rights
• Correction of interment errors
• Accepting the notarized signature of one next of kin for purpose of authorizing interment/memorialization

In 2011 the VCA began a new legislative chapter with Aimee Perron Seibert, with Commonwealth Strategy Group, and she is now known as the “cemetery lobbyist” and go-to in Richmond when cemetery issues arise with legislators or their constituents. Many times we headed off legislation by working out resolutions with legislators behind the scenes to solve their issues. She helped us with:

• Softening the “audit” requirement for annual trust reports (lowering excessive CPA costs for cemeteries)
• Reducing the “tree canopy” requirements for cemeteries
• Total return distribution method for perpetual care trusts
• Special Interments (pets)

She has also worked with all three of the funeral home associations on issues we have in common like:

• When next of kin disagree
• Absence of next of kin
• Strengthening the priority of “burial power of attorney”
  
  
  

The VCA has made a continued investment over the past 28 years (since 1998) in having a very active legislative committee who provide wise guidance and day to day presence of lobbyists in Richmond who are our “eyes and ears”. They help resolve things before they are a problem, assist with filing legislation, and getting pro cemetery laws passed. But we need to keep doing our part. Reach out to the VCA for information about key legislators in your area so they become knowledgeable about the work we do and can become our “champions” to speak up (and vote) for cemeteries when needed. And please support the VCA through the annual dues assessment which funds the VCA lobbyist and work of the VCA Legislative Committee in protecting cemeteries and advancing our interests in Richmond.