Not everything the legislature does is red meat or earth-shattering. A lot of what we do is quieter than that, nuanced issues and small, real improvements to people’s lives. Nobody is walking into a voting booth thinking about SB 226. But it fixes a real problem for real families.
Funeral costs don’t wait for you to be ready, and they only go up over time. Some families plan ahead by locking in today’s prices for a loved one’s eventual funeral through what’s called a “preneed” contract with a guaranteed price, no matter how much costs rise by the time it’s actually needed. SB 226 makes sure that option stays available and fair.
To offer a guaranteed price years or decades in advance, the funeral provider is taking on real financial risk if costs rise faster than expected. SB 226 allows that provider to charge a reasonable administrative fee, capped at 15% of the total contract, to make offering that guarantee sustainable. But it also protects the family on the other side: that fee can only be charged once, and it can’t be taken out until the full contract has actually been paid off, so a family who cancels early or falls behind isn’t stuck losing money to a fee on a contract they never completed.
Sponsored by Sen. Greg Elkins, with Sens. Carroll, Madon, Mills, Nunn, and Richardson. Passed the Senate 38-0 and the House 93-0.