44TH LEGISLATURE - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - FIRST SESSION, 1999

RELATING TO PROFESSIONAL LICENSING; AMENDING THE THANATOPRACTICE ACT TO REQUIRE DISCLOSURE OF OWNERS' NAMES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

Section 1. Section 61-32-25 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1993, Chapter 204, Section 25) is amended to read:

"61-32-25. ADDITIONAL PROHIBITIONS.--

A. No person licensed [under] pursuant to the provisions of the Thanatopractice Act shall advertise under any name that tends to mislead the public or that sufficiently resembles the professional or business name of another license holder or that may cause confusion or misunderstanding.

B. A person licensed in the practice of funeral service who began practicing on or after July 1, 1935 and who is engaged in the practice under a trade, partnership or firm name shall also publish with the trade, partnership or firm name the name of the owner of the establishment.

[B.] C. No person licensed [under] pursuant to the provisions of the Thanatopractice Act shall transport or cause to be transported by common carrier any dead human body out of this state when the licensee knows or [had] has reason to believe that the dead human body carries any notifiable communicable disease or when the transportation would take place more than twenty-four hours after death, unless the body has been prepared or embalmed as provided in the Thanatopractice Act, unless approval for transportation has been given by the office of the medical investigator, the secretary of health, a court of competent jurisdiction or other authorized official or unless the body is placed in a sealed container.

[C.] D. No person licensed [under] pursuant to the provisions of the Thanatopractice Act shall remove, and no authorized person shall embalm, a dead human body when the authorized person has information indicating crime or violence of any sort in connection with the cause or manner of death, unless in accordance with instructions or regulations of the office of the medical investigator or until permission has been obtained from the office of the medical investigator or other authorized official."