DENVER (AP) — Colorado lawmakers passed a bill Monday to overhaul the state’s lax funeral home oversight, joining a second measure aimed at regulating the industry that passed last week.
Both follow a series of horrific incidents at funeral homes, including sold body parts, fake ashes and the discovery of 190 decaying bodies.
The cases have devastated hundreds of families. Many learned their child's or parent's remains weren't in the ashes they received, but instead decaying sometimes for four years in a bug-infested building oftentimes stacked atop each other.
The case turned a spotlight on the state's funeral home regulations — some of the weakest in the nation.
The bill passed Monday, which would require routine inspections of Colorado funeral homes, will head to Colorado Gov. Jared Polis's desk for a signature after the House considers a minor change by the Senate. The legislation would also give regulators more enforcement power over funerals homes.
The second bill, which is already headed to the governors' desk, would require funeral directors and other industry roles to be licensed. Those qualifications would include background checks, degrees in mortuary science, passage of a national examination and work experience.
For Crystina Page, the proposed regulations arrived late. After her son, David Page, was shot and killed by law-enforcement in 2019, she hired Return to Nature to cremate his remains. For four years she carried the urn she thought held his ashes. Then she learned it wasn't her son's remains.
“It hits me really hard that these people dumped my sons body out of a body bag... where rats and maggots ate his body for four years,” said Page, who now organizes a support group with victims.
"It just becomes something I have to wake with every day," she said.
Page said the bills are a step in the right direction. Still, she's hoping that regulatory agencies will require more rigorous tracking of a body from funeral home to crematory and back.
“I want every person through this process to know ‘This is David Page,’ all the way through," she said.
The bills are a dramatic update in a state that didn't require funeral directors to graduate high school, let alone get a degree. And the funeral home industry is generally on board.
“We as Colorado cannot be the laughing stock anymore as the only unlicensed funeral state,” said Joe Walsh, president of the Colorado Funeral Directors Association.
Walsh said that a majority their members wanted licensure, and that the rules are a good step in bringing Colorado in line with the rest of the country.
Some in the industry have raised concerns that the requirements to become a funeral director are unnecessary and onerous, since the role is more akin to an event coordinator.
The owners of Return to Nature Funeral home, where the 190 decomposing bodies were found, have been arrested and face hundreds of charges, including abuse of a corpse.
The number of bodies in a facility about two hours south of Denver rose over four years, with some dating back to 2019. But concerns were raised in 2020, three years before the morbid discovery.
A county coroner had reported suspicions about the poor treatment of bodies, including worries over improper refrigeration of bodies, according to court documents, but nothing came of it.
Months after the discovery at Return to Nature, another body was found in the back of a hearse owned by a suburban Denver funeral home.
Christina Rosales' body had been languishing in the gurney for over a year. It was covered in blankets, and discovered because the owner of the funeral home in suburban Denver was being evicted. Rosales had passed away at age 63 from Alzheimer’s, and her husband, George Rosales, had been given ashes he later learned weren't his wife's remains.
Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
FILE - Authorities walk outside a closed funeral home where multiple bodies have been stored, Friday, Oct. 6, 2023, in Penrose, Colo. Colorado lawmakers passed a sweeping bill Monday, May 6, 2024, to overhaul the state’s lax oversight which failed to catch a series of horrific incidents involving funeral homes. The cases have devastated hundreds of already grieving families, and encouraged lawmakers to pass the bill, which now goes to Colorado Gov. Jared Polis’ desk for a signature. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
FILE - A hearse and debris can be seen at the rear of the Return to Nature Funeral Home, Oct. 5, 2023, in Penrose, Colo. Colorado lawmakers passed a sweeping bill Monday, May 6, 2024, to overhaul the state’s lax oversight which failed to catch a series of horrific incidents involving funeral homes. The cases have devastated hundreds of already grieving families, and encouraged lawmakers to pass the bill, which now goes to Colorado Gov. Jared Polis’ desk for a signature. (Jerilee Bennett/The Gazette via AP, File)
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli airstrike killed 20 people in central Gaza, mostly women and children, and fighting raged across the north on Sunday as Israel's leaders aired divisions over who should govern Gaza after the war, now in its eighth month.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced criticism from his own War Cabinet, with his main political rival, Benny Gantz, threatening to leave the government if a plan is not formulated by June 8 that includes an international administration for postwar Gaza.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan was expected to meet with top Israeli leaders on Sunday to discuss an ambitious U.S. plan for Saudi Arabia to recognize Israel and help the Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza in exchange for a path to eventual statehood.
Netanyahu, who is opposed to Palestinian statehood, has rejected those proposals, saying Israel will maintain open-ended security control over Gaza and partner with local Palestinians unaffiliated with Hamas or the Western-backed Palestinian Authority.
Gantz' withdrawal would not bring down Netanyahu's coalition government, but it would leave him more reliant on far-right allies who support the “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians from Gaza, full military occupation and the rebuilding of Jewish settlements there.
Even as the discussions of postwar planning take on new weight, the war is still raging with no end in sight. In recent weeks, Hamas has regrouped in parts of northern Gaza that were heavily bombed in the early days of the war and where Israeli ground troops had already operated.
The airstrike in Nuseirat, a built-up Palestinian refugee camp in central Gaza dating back to the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, killed 20 people, including eight women and four children, according to records at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the nearby town of Deir al-Balah, which received the bodies.
A separate strike on a street in Nuseirat killed another five people, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service. In Deir al-Balah, a strike killed Zahed al-Houli, a senior officer in the Hamas-run police, and another man, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
Palestinians reported more airstrikes and heavy fighting in northern Gaza, which has been largely isolated by Israeli troops for months and where the World Food Program says a famine is underway.
The Civil Defense says the strikes hit several homes near Kamal Adwan Hospital in the town of Beit Lahiya, killing at least 10 people. Footage released by the rescuers showed them trying to pull the body of a woman out of the rubble as explosions echo in the background and smoke rises.
In the urban Jabliya refugee camp nearby, residents reported a heavy wave of artillery and airstrikes.
“The situation is very difficult,” said Abdel-Kareem Radwan, a 48-year-old in Jabaliya. He said the whole eastern side has become a battle zone where the Israeli fighter jets “strike anything that moves."
Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesman for the Civil Defense, said rescuers had recovered at least 150 bodies, more than half of them women and children, since Israel launched the operation in Jabaliya last week. He said around 300 homes have been “completely destroyed.”
Israel launched its offensive after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, in which Palestinian militants stormed into southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting some 250.
The war has killed at least 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Around 80% of the population of 2.3 million Palestinians have been displaced within the territory, often multiple times.
Israel says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames the high death toll and destruction on Hamas, which positions fighters, tunnels and rocket launchers in dense, residential areas.
Netanyahu's critics, including thousands of protesters who took to the streets again on Saturday, accuse him of prolonging the war and rejecting a cease-fire deal that would release hostages so he can avoid a reckoning over the security failures that led to the attack.
Polls show that Gantz, a political centrist, would likely succeed Netanyahu if early elections are held. That would expose Netanyahu to prosecution on longstanding corruption allegations.
Netanyahu denies any political motives and says the offensive must continue until Hamas is dismantled and the estimated 100 hostages held in Gaza, and the remains of more than 30 others, are returned. He has said it's pointless to discuss postwar arrangements while Hamas is still fighting because the militants have threatened anyone who cooperates with Israel.
Netanyahu also faces pressure from Israel's closest ally, the United States, which has provided crucial military aid and diplomatic cover for the offensive while expressing growing frustration with Israel's conduct of the war.
President Joe Biden's administration recently held up a shipment of 3,500 bombs of up to 2,000 pounds (900 kilograms) each and said the U.S. would not provide offensive weapons for a full-scale invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, citing fears of a humanitarian catastrophe.
But last week, after Israel launched what it says is a limited operation in Rafah, the administration told legislators it would move forward with the sale of $1 billion worth of arms, tank ammunition, tactical vehicles and mortar rounds, according to congressional aides.
Sullivan is expected in Israel after meeting with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Saturday. The administration has been working on an ambitious plan in which Saudi Arabia would recognize Israel and join other Arab states in helping to administer and rebuild Gaza, in exchange for a U.S. defense pact and help in building a civilian nuclear program.
But U.S. and Saudi officials say that deal requires Israel to agree to a credible path to eventual Palestinian statehood, something Netanyahu has repeatedly ruled out.
In Gantz' ultimatum, he expressed support for normalizing ties with Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries. But he also said “we will not allow any outside power, friendly or hostile, to impose a Palestinian state on us.”
Magdy reported from Cairo and Krauss from Jerusalem.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Police use water cannon to disperse demonstrators blocking a road during a protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, and calling for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Police use water cannon to disperse demonstrators blocking a road during a protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, and calling for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Police disperse demonstrators blocking a road during a protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, and calling for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Police disperse demonstrators blocking a road during a protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, and calling for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Mourners pray over the bodies of Palestinians who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Nuseirat, at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Sunday, May 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Mourners pray over the bodies of Palestinians who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Nuseirat, at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Sunday, May 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians mourn their relatives who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Nuseirat, at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Sunday, May 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians mourn their relatives who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Nuseirat, at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Sunday, May 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians mourn their relatives who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Nuseirat, at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Sunday, May 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians mourn their relatives who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Nuseirat, at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Sunday, May 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians mourn their relatives who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Nuseirat, at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Sunday, May 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians mourn their relatives who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Nuseirat, at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Sunday, May 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A Palestinian boy carries an aid box after storming trucks loaded with humanitarian aid brought in through a new U.S.-built pier, at the beach road of Nusseirat refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, Saturday, May 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Saher Alghorra)
People protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and call for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, May 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Mourners pray over the bodies of Palestinians who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Nuseirat, at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Sunday, May 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
