SEC. 73-11-55. Licensing of funeral establishment; exceptions; requirements; applications and fees.

Section 73-11-55, Mississippi Code of 1972, is reenacted as follows:

73-11-55. (1) No person or party shall conduct, maintain, manage or operate a funeral establishment or branch thereof unless a license for each such establishment has been issued by the board and is conspicuously displayed in such funeral establishment. In case of funeral services held in any private residence, church, cemetery, cemetery chapel, cemetery facility, or lodge hall, no license shall be required.

(2) To be licensed as a funeral establishment, a place or premise must be at a fixed and specified address or location and must be used for immediate post-death activities, whether used for the custody, shelter, care, preparation and/or embalming of the human dead. Every funeral establishment shall be under the charge and personal supervision of a Mississippi funeral director licensee or a Mississippi funeral service licensee. The licensee in charge and the licensee with personal supervisory responsibilities need not be the same licensee. Each licensed funeral establishment shall be inspected at least once during each licensing period. Such inspections may be unannounced.

(3) For the purposes of this section:

(a) A funeral establishment must contain a preparation and/or embalming room, adequate casket vault selection room, and holding facilities or proper room or rooms in which rites and ceremonies may be held.

(b) A branch is a funeral establishment that is part of a multi-unit enterprise within this state. A branch establishment need not meet all requirements specified in paragraph (a) of this subsection and need not be under the personal supervision of a Mississippi funeral director licensee or a Mississippi funeral service licensee if the branch is within seventy (70) miles of the headquarters' location.

If the branch meets all requirements of a funeral establishment as specified in paragraph (a) of this subsection, such establishment must be under the charge and personal supervision of a Mississippi funeral director licensee or a Mississippi funeral service licensee.

(c) A commercial mortuary service is a funeral establishment that embalms and transports for licensed funeral establishments and does not sell any services or merchandise directly or at retail to the public.

(4) Applications for funeral establishment licenses, branch establishment licenses or commercial mortuary service licenses shall be made on blanks furnished by the board and shall be accompanied by a fee in an amount fixed by the board pursuant to Section 73-11-56. All establishment licenses shall be issued for a period of two (2) years, except initial licenses may be prorated from the date of issuance to the next renewal date.

Renewal funeral establishment applications and license fees shall be due and payable to the board on or before the expiration date of the license. The board shall mail a notice of the due date for payment of the renewal fee at least thirty (30) days prior to the license expiration date.

(5) If the renewal fee is not paid on or before the date that it is due, a late fee, as prescribed by Section 73-11-56, shall be added to the renewal fee. A period of thirty (30) days shall be allowed after the expiration of a license, during which time the funeral establishment, branch establishment or commercial mortuary service license may be renewed on the payment of the renewal fee plus the applicable late fee. If the license is not renewed during the aforesaid thirty-day period, such license shall by operation of law automatically expire and become void without further action of the board. All establishments whose licenses have expired under this section may be reinstated by filing with the board an application for reinstatement, submitting to an inspection during which time the licensee in charge of such establishment shall be interviewed by the board or its designee and by paying all renewal fees in arrears, late fees, a reinstatement fee and an inspection fee.

(6) A license for each new establishment, change of location, change of ownership, or reinstatement of an establishment shall not be issued until an inspection has been made, license and inspection fees have been paid, and the licensee in charge of such establishment has been interviewed by the board or its designee.

(7) No operator of a funeral establishment shall allow any person licensed for the practice of funeral service or funeral directing, as the case may be, to operate out of such funeral establishment unless such licensee is the operator of or an employee of the operator of a funeral establishment which has been issued a license by the board.

(8) The board is authorized to establish rules and regulations for the issuance of a special funeral establishment work permit.

SOURCES: Laws, 1983, ch. 351, Sec. 8; reenacted and amended, 1991, ch. 463, Sec. 9; reenacted, 1993, ch. 499, Sec. 9; reenacted, 1995, ch. 387, Sec. 10, eff from and after June 30, 1995