text: SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
  
      This Act may be cited as the ``Bereaved Consumer's Bill of Rights 
  Act of 2016''.
  
  SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
  
      Congress finds that--
              (1) there have been shocking consumer abuses in the funeral 
          industry, including scandals at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, 
          Illinois, Menorah Gardens Cemetery in Palm Beach, Florida, and 
          the Tri State Crematory in Noble, Georgia;
              (2) funeral arrangements are a major expense for most 
          American households and families;
              (3) some consumers seek to ease the burdens on their 
          families by arranging and paying for preneed funeral and 
          cemetery arrangements;
              (4) most funerals are planned by grieving family members at 
          a time when they are especially vulnerable and unlikely to 
          focus on cost comparison;
              (5) the Federal Trade Commission's Funeral Industry 
          Practices Trade Regulation Rule (known as the Funeral Rule) 
          dictates consumer protections in the funeral home, but does not 
          cover the practices of cemeteries, crematoria, or sellers of 
          monuments, urns, or caskets;
              (6) State laws are inconsistent and frequently too weak to 
          provide adequate consumer protections, creating a need for 
          minimum Federal standards in this area;
              (7) consumers have the right to receive clear and accurate 
          information about all funeral goods and funeral services 
          offered for sale;
              (8) consumers need effective protection from fraud and 
          abusive practices by all providers of funeral goods and funeral 
          services and at all stages of the funeral planning process; and
              (9) a new Federal law that provides adequate protections to 
          grieving families is warranted.
  
  SEC. 3. FTC RULEMAKING RELATING TO UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS OR 
                PRACTICES IN THE PROVISION OF FUNERAL GOODS OR FUNERAL 
                SERVICES.
  
      (a) In General.--The Federal Trade Commission shall prescribe rules 
  prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the provision of 
  funeral goods or funeral services. Such rules shall include the 
  following:
              (1) A requirement that providers of funeral goods or 
          funeral services furnish accurate price information disclosing 
          clearly and conspicuously the cost to the purchaser for each of 
          the specific funeral goods or funeral services provided or 
          offered for sale.
              (2) A prohibition on misrepresentations by such providers, 
          including misrepresentations of the requirements of Federal, 
          State, or local law.
              (3) A prohibition on conditioning the provision of any 
          funeral good or funeral service upon the purchase of any other 
          funeral good or funeral service from that provider, except as 
          required by law.
              (4) A requirement that any presale disclosures and 
          contracts for funeral services or funeral goods be written 
          clearly, stating the merchandise and services that purchasers 
          are buying and their prices.
              (5) In the case of contracts for funeral services or 
          funeral goods that are prepaid in whole or in part, a 
          requirement for clear and conspicuous presale and contractual 
          disclosure regarding any penalties incurred if the consumer 
          decides to cancel or transfer the contract to another provider 
          of funeral services or funeral goods.
              (6) A requirement that contracts for funeral services or 
          funeral goods disclose clearly and conspicuously all fees and 
          costs to be incurred in the future or at the time that the 
          funeral services or funeral goods are provided.
              (7) A requirement that cemeteries provide to consumers, in 
          a timely manner, all written rules and regulations of the 
          cemetery, and a clear explanation in writing of the interment, 
          inurnment, or entombment right that has been purchased, and any 
          material terms and conditions of that purchase, including any 
          repurchase option by the cemetery or resale rights available to 
          the consumer.
              (8) A requirement that cemeteries--
                      (A) retain all records in existence on the date of 
                  enactment of this Act, including maps or other systems 
                  indicating the location and date of each interment, 
                  inurnment, or entombment;
                      (B) accurately record and retain records of all 
                  interments, inurnments, or entombments occurring, as 
                  well as any internment, inurnment, or entombment rights 
                  sold, after the effective date of the regulations 
                  issued under this subsection, in such manner and form 
                  as the Commission may prescribe in such regulations; 
                  and
                      (C) make such records available to Federal, State, 
                  and local governments, as appropriate.
      (b) Rulemaking.--The Commission shall prescribe the rules under 
  subsection (a) within 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act. 
  Such rules, and any future rules or revision of rules prescribed by the 
  Commission prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the 
  provision of funeral goods or funeral services, shall be prescribed in 
  accordance with section 553 of title 5, United States Code.
      (c) Application of Rules to Tax-Exempt Organizations and States.--
  Notwithstanding the definition of corporation in section 4 of the 
  Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 44), the rules prescribed under 
  subsection (a), and any future rules or revision of rules prescribed by 
  the Commission prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the 
  provision of funeral goods or funeral services, shall also apply to 
  cemeteries organized or operated by--
              (1) organizations described in section 501(c) of the 
          Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that are exempt from taxation 
          under section 501(a) of such Code, except for cemeteries 
          organized, operated, managed, and owned by a religious 
          denomination, middle judicatory, house of worship, or similar 
          religious organization, and that are not organized, operated, 
          managed, or owned by contract or affiliation with a for-profit 
          provider of funeral goods or funeral services that offers those 
          goods or services for sale to the public; or
              (2) States or any political subdivision of a State.
      (d) Enforcement.--Any violation of any rule prescribed under this 
  section shall be treated as a violation of a regulation prescribed 
  under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 
  U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)) regarding unfair or deceptive acts or practices. 
  The Federal Trade Commission shall enforce this Act in the same manner, 
  by the same means, and with the same jurisdiction as though all 
  applicable terms and provisions of the Federal Trade Commission Act 
  were incorporated into and made a part of this Act. Any person who 
  violates the regulations prescribed under this Act shall be subject to 
  the penalties and entitled to the privileges and immunities provided in 
  that Act.
  
  SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT BY STATES.
  
      (a) In General.--Whenever an attorney general of any State has 
  reason to believe that the interests of the residents of that State 
  have been or are being threatened or adversely affected because any 
  person has engaged or is engaging in an act or practice which violates 
  any rule of the Commission issued under section 3 of this Act or the 
  Trade Regulation Rule on Funeral Industry Practices (16 C.F.R. 453.1 et 
  seq.), the State, as parens patriae, may bring a civil action on behalf 
  of its residents in an appropriate district court of the United States 
  to enjoin such violative act or practice, to enforce compliance with 
  such rule of the Commission, to obtain damages, restitution, or other 
  compensation on behalf of residents of such State, or to obtain such 
  further and other relief as the court may determine appropriate.
      (b) Notice.--The State shall provide prior written notice of any 
  civil action under subsection (a) or (f)(2) to the Commission and 
  provide the Commission with a copy of its complaint, except that if it 
  is not feasible for the State to provide such prior notice, the State 
  shall provide such notice immediately upon instituting such action. 
  Upon receiving a notice respecting a civil action, the Commission shall 
  have the right--
              (1) to intervene in such action;
              (2) upon so intervening, to be heard on all matters arising 
          therein;
              (3) to remove the action to the appropriate United States 
          district court; and
              (4) to file petitions for appeal.
      (c) Construction.--For purposes of bringing any civil action under 
  subsection (a), nothing in this Act shall prevent an attorney general 
  from exercising the powers conferred on the attorney general by the 
  laws of such State to conduct investigations or to administer oaths or 
  affirmations or to compel the attendance of witnesses or the production 
  of documentary and other evidence.
      (d) Actions by Commission.--Whenever a civil action has been 
  instituted by or on behalf of the Commission for violation of any rule 
  prescribed under section 3 of this Act, no State may, during the 
  pendency of such action instituted by or on behalf of the Commission, 
  institute a civil action under subsection (a) or (f)(2) of this section 
  against any defendant named in the complaint in such action for 
  violation of any rule as alleged in such complaint.
      (e) Venue; Service of Process.--Any civil action brought under 
  subsection (a) of this section in a district court of the United States 
  may be brought in the district in which the defendant is found, is an 
  inhabitant, or transacts business or wherever venue is proper under 
  section 1391 of title 28, United States Code. Process in such an action 
  may be served in any district in which the defendant is an inhabitant 
  or in which the defendant may be found.
      (f) Actions by Other State Officials.--
              (1) Construction.--Nothing contained in this section shall 
          prohibit an authorized State official from proceeding in State 
          court on the basis of an alleged violation of any civil or 
          criminal statute of such State.
              (2) Other state actions.--In addition to actions brought by 
          an attorney general of a State under subsection (a) of this 
          section, such an action may be brought by officers of such 
          State who are authorized by the State to bring actions in such 
          State on behalf of its residents.
  
  SEC. 5. EFFECT ON OTHER LAW.
  
      Nothing in this Act or the rules prescribed under this Act shall be 
  construed to preempt any provision of any law of a State or political 
  subdivision of that State that provides protections to consumers of 
  funeral services or funeral goods, except to the extent that the 
  provision of law is inconsistent with any provision of this Act or a 
  rule prescribed under this Act, and then only to the extent of the 
  inconsistency.
  
  SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.
  
      In this Act--
              (1) the term ``cemetery'' means any organization, 
          association, or other business that offers for sale the 
          interment, inurnment, or entombment of human remains, but does 
          not include any cemetery that--
                      (A) performs fewer than a total of 25 interments, 
                  inurnments, and entombments during any calendar year; 
                  or
                      (B) sells fewer than a total of 25 interment 
                  rights, inurnment rights, and entombment rights during 
                  any calendar year;
              (2) the term ``funeral goods'' means the goods which are 
          sold or offered for sale directly to the public for use in 
          connection with funeral services; and
              (3) the term ``funeral services'' means--
                      (A) any services which are sold or offered for sale 
                  directly to the public in order to--
                              (i) care for and prepare deceased human 
                          bodies for burial, cremation, or other final 
                          disposition; or
                              (ii) arrange, supervise, or conduct the 
                          funeral ceremony or the final disposition of 
                          deceased human bodies; or
                      (B) services provided by funeral directors, 
                  morticians, cemeterians, cremationists, and retailers 
                  of caskets, urns, monuments, and markers.
target: Bereaved Consumer's Bill of Rights Act of 2016  This bill directs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to prescribe rules prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the provision of funeral goods or services.&nbsp;The rules must: (1) require price information to be disclosed clearly and conspicuously; (2) prohibit misrepresentations or the provision of goods or services being conditioned upon the purchase of other goods or services from the provider; (3) require presale disclosures and contracts to be written clearly, stating the merchandise, services, and prices and disclosing any penalties for canceling or transferring a contract; (4) require cemeteries to provide consumers all written rules and regulations of the cemetery and all material terms and conditions of purchase; and (5) require cemeteries to retain all records in existence on the date of enactment of this bill and accurately record and retain records of interments, inurnments, or entombments. Cemeteries subject to the FTC's rules shall include those organized or operated by states, political subdivisions, or tax-exempt organizations.&nbsp;But the bill excludes cemeteries organized, operated, managed, and owned by a religious organization and that are not affiliated with a for-profit provider offering funeral goods and services for sale to the public. The FTC and states are provided authority to enforce against violations. 
feat_title: Bereaved Consumer's Bill of Rights Act of 2016