* Sun-Times…
A macabre discovery in a Far South Side funeral home is once again revealing gaps in government oversight of facilities like the one in South Deering where authorities found dozens of decomposing bodies last week, according to lawmakers who called for state-level reform on Monday.
But before Springfield takes another swing at the issue, officials were still trying to pin down who could have prevented the nightmare scene uncovered Thursday — other than the Evergreen Park couple accused of mishandling the remains of more than 100 people at South Chicago Chapel, 2939 E. 95th St. […]
The Morgans also ran a Chicago Heights crematory that was shut down by the state last year for mishandling the remains of about 100 other people. That prompted a new state law expanding the regulatory authority of the Illinois comptroller’s office, which, in a quirk of state responsibilities, oversees crematories in addition to its fiscal duties.
But Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s office doesn’t regulate funeral directors or embalmers, who are licensed by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation under Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration. And apparently no state agency oversees funeral homes themselves, at their physical locations, officials said.
“We need to look at putting it all under one roof,” said state Rep. Diane Blair-Sherlock, D-Villa Park, who co-sponsored the 2025 crematory legislation and said facilities should be subject to quarterly inspections. “But neither of them are really set up with huge enforcement arms. … So I think that’s where we need to look and say, where would this best fit, and who would be willing to take it on?”
* The NASW’s Kyle Hillman has been pushing IDFPR for years to speed up its licensing pace and gave us some advice in comments yesterday…
This case is horrifying and people are right to ask why it keeps happening. But dumping funeral home oversight on IDFPR isn’t the fix.
IDFPR needs to be focused on licensing people, not businesses. Handing them a whole new additional business-licensing function, however it gets funded, pulls focus off that core job.
That means everyone else waiting on a license or a complaint investigation waits longer. Adding another business-regulation mission on top of a professional-licensing agency doesn’t fix funeral home oversight, it just spreads the same overstretched agency thinner. The GA really needs to avoid adding unrelated tasks to agencies - this rarely works.
The real question is who should regulate funeral homes and crematories as businesses (like a new funeral commission), and what’s the wild only in Illinois story on how the Comptroller ended up with part of that job to begin with. But, please don’t start adding new tasks to a licensing department just now climbing out of a backlog.
- Friendly Bob Adams - Tuesday, Aug 11, 26 @ 1:41 pm:
Agree IDFPR is not the answer. To me this is a problem best handled by the public health system.
- Kelly Cassidy - Tuesday, Aug 11, 26 @ 1:50 pm:
“and what’s the wild only in Illinois story on how the Comptroller ended up with part of that job to begin with”
Funny you should ask, Kyle. When we were working on the Natural Organic Reduction bill and running into the weird intersections of IDFPR and Comptroller oversight, someone explained that it used to all be under the Comptroller and there was a move to put it under IDFPR. There were union jobs in the Comptroller’s office associated with the crematory oversight stuff and we were told that Judy Baar Topinka didn’t want to let them go, so she retained oversight of crematories. At least that’s the explanation we got at the time.
- Derek Smalls - Tuesday, Aug 11, 26 @ 1:56 pm:
DPR does more than simply licensing, it is also responsible for regulation and discipline of the million plus licensees. Approximately half the DPR staff is on the enforcement side. Not saying licensing isn’t a major duty of the agency, but it isn’t the only one. More staff and better IT would help licensing, but all the professions howl if fee hikes are proposed that would support those improvements. It is usually decades between fee hikes for most professions. Inflation doesn’t take decades long breaks. In terms of businesses, DPR regulates plenty, pharmacies, cannabis dispensaries, security companies, accounting firms and others. Most licensees are individuals, but more than a small handful are businesses. Not disagreeing with Kyle’s point overall, but it isn’t just a licensing agency with no experience regulating businesses. As to whether it does it well, different discussion.
- Downstate - Tuesday, Aug 11, 26 @ 1:56 pm:
City/County Health Departments handle licensure for restaurants. And there are a ton of those in every community. Seems like that could be a good solution for handling this area as well. Just a thought.
- Tom - Tuesday, Aug 11, 26 @ 1:59 pm:
A further reason the Comptroller oversees part of the Funeral business is that funeral homes were in the business of offering preneed funeral arrangements. The homes would then invest those dollars and use them when the preneed purchaser died. In true Illinois fashion, some of those dollars went missing and were mismanaged, thus the Comptroller’s involvement.
- Sarah - Tuesday, Aug 11, 26 @ 2:01 pm:
Also let’s please NOT do a Press Tour before families are notified. I understand city elections are well under way, let’s give the families the respect they deserve. This whole situation is horrendous. Let’s not use this as an election platform.
- Derek Smalls - Tuesday, Aug 11, 26 @ 2:06 pm:
As the saying goes, history doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes. DPR got cemetery oversight because then Comptroller Hynes got roasted by Gov Quinn for the Burr Oak Cemetery scandal and his failure to stop it. Comptroller Mendoza now pointing out how a gubernatorial agency fell short in a death related industry.