In a unique situation the State of West Virginia has no members currently sitting on the Board of Funeral Service Examiners.  According to an article that you can read here in the West Virginia Gazette Mail, the state legislature was planning on having a bill passed that would have transferred the board’s duties and powers to the Secretary of State’s Office.

However, a glitch happened with the bill allowing it to be passed by the Senate on the last day of the legislative session, but the bill was never considered by the West Virginia House.

The issue all started with disappointment from the legislators with the fact that West Virginia Board of Funeral Service Examiners were found in a legislative audit to have had several instances where the board neglected to use its authority to protect the public or accommodated a licensee accused of fraudulent activity.  This led to 4 of the 7 members of the board to resign.

The remaining members were appointed in July of 2018 but the West Virginia Senate voted not to confirm them this session which leaves the board in the odd position that it has no members.  It is expected that Gov. Jim Justice will appoint a new board that will be able to serve pending confirmation.

According to the article, Regina Anderson, the board’s executive director stated, “We can issue licenses and do daily operations. . . .we just can’t handle complaints.”

Funeral Director Daily take:  This is really an odd circumstance.  Although, it is not really unexpected.  I’ve been around legislators enough to know that when they are disappointed with something, they can make life miserable for those whom they believe responsible.  It doesn’t make sense, however, to leave this lingering.  If there are complaints about the funeral industry, somebody has to be responsible in the state for handling them and protecting the consumer public.

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