In a mark-up meeting today, the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection voted to send the “Bereaved Consumer’s Bill of Rights Act of 2009” (H.R. 3655) to the full House Energy and Commerce Committee for consideration, moving it one step closer to passage. (A mark-up is the part of the legislative process during which the committee with jurisdiction over the bill reviews, amends and approves it, preparing it for consideration by the full House of Representatives.) The bill, which was introduced by Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., would require the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to initiate a separate rule that would cover cemeteries and all other sellers of funeral or burial goods or services.
Now, the House Energy and Commerce Committee will consider the bill, likely after the Easter recess. If H.R. 3655 passes the House Energy and Commerce Committee, it will move to the House of Representatives for debate and a vote. NFDA will keep you informed of developments related to this bill as they become available.
NFDA supports passage of this bill because it outlines for the FTC a rule we have long argued was necessary, given a dramatically changed marketplace, with new and non-traditional sellers offering more choices for consumers to purchase funeral or burial goods or services in a lightly, and sometimes unregulated, environment. In January, NFDA testified in support of this bill before the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection.
During the recent NFDA Advocacy Summit in Washington, D.C., Rush spoke to attendees about his efforts to pass this bill. Rush’s speech was Webcast live; if you missed it, a recording is by clicking http://memorialstreams.com/ms/NFDA and entering Service ID “856” and Password “nfda”.
NFDA encourages you to contact your representatives and urge them to co-sponsor and actively support passage of H.R. 3655. Doing so is simple using NFDA’s Congress-at-a-Click tool (login required). There, you will find a prepared email, which you can customize, to send out today! For more information about this bill or ways you can support its passage, contact a member of NFDA’s Advocacy Division staff in Washington, D.C.: Senior Vice President of Advocacy John Fitch, 202-547-0441, or Director of Political Affairs Lesley Witter, 202-547-0877.
Via: NFDA Facebook Page
