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Budget Cuts Prompt Connecticut To Deregulate Funeral Industry

HARTFORD, CT (WCBS 880) - A new cost-cutting move will kill a program devoted to death.

WCBS 880 Connecticut Bureau Chief Fran Schneidau On The Story

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As chair of Connecticut's funeral and embalmer examining board, Daniel Jowdy told WCBS 880's Fran Schneidau he is disheartened that the state will no longer regulate the funeral business.

As a funeral director, Jowdy said he has seen the transgressions of would-be professionals who entered the business when there was no regulation -- people who stole money and valuables from homes they entered to collect bodies, Schneidau reported.

Unscrupulous funeral home directors all but disappeared from the industry once the business became state regulated.

Deregulating the funeral industry in Connecticut is lowering the bar he and his board members have struggled to elevate, Jowdy said.

"The industry desperately needs licensing and inspectors," Jowdy said. "When it's known that there is an inspector out in the field, who can come into your funeral home, anytime, unannounced ... between the hours of 9 and 5 Monday to Friday, you'll stay on your toes all the time," said Jowdy.

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