Hello, everyone. It’s that time of year again with the NFDA Advocacy 2024 in Washington, D.C., to advocate for our profession and our members to our legislators with concerns we are facing this year. Our MFDA President Tyson Moore, Executive Director Jim Brown, MFDA Administrator Terri James and I had the opportunity to discuss current concerns with our Montana Delegation.

Since the EPA deemed that formaldehyde used for embalming is not regulated under the Toxic Substances Control Act, consequently, we did not have to address this with our legislative group. Good news there.

What we had to advocate for was basically three items.

First was the Health Savings Account. New legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives, the “Funeral Coverage Act of 2024” (H.R. 7963), introduced by Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK). This legislation would designate funeral expenses as a qualified expense eligible for coverage under Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). This means that families that have saved money for healthcare expenses can use those funds for funeral and burial expenses after the person dies and no longer needs the money for healthcare costs. This was well received by the Montana Delegation, and we asked for a Senate bill from either Tester or Daines to be introduced in the Senate. This seems like a win-win and a no-brainer, but politics is unpredictable. I suspect this will move forward easily.

Next on the agenda was the Consensual Donation & Research Integrity Act (S. 2191/H.R. 4275), which has been introduced in both the House and Senate. This will provide the Secretary of HHS with oversight and authority over facilities that receive donated human bodies and body parts for education and research. The bill will protect the dignity of donors and give families peace of mind by creating standards for inspection, chain of custody, labeling and packaging, and proper disposition.

Lastly, the Funeral Rule was reviewed by the FTC. This issue is kept on our radars. There are meetings and committees on the revisions, but nothing has been implemented or moved on yet. The biggest issues discussed are posting the GPL on the funeral homes’ website and price disclosures along with fielding shoppers calling for information. We need to keep this in mind and wait to see what will transpire.

While there, we got treated to a tour of the Capitol, which everyone should do at least once. It was extremely impressive. We also got a tour of the White House, thanks to Senator Daines’s office. This was very exciting and well worth the time. And of course, the cherry blossoms started to bloom, and what a sight; they are magnificent, and I can see why they are a travel destination.

Thank you to all our MFDA members for your input, and thank you for the opportunity to represent Montana to the NFDA. Until next time, God Bless and take care.