The 2006 Annual Summary of Vital Statistics can be found at   2006 Annual Summary of Vital Statistics
Some 2006 Kansas death data:  24,489 deaths--which is a decrease of 0.6% from 2005.   The Kansas death rate was 8.9 deaths per 1,000 population.  293 infant deaths were recorded.  The average age at death of Kansas residents was 74.0 years which is an increase from 1987 when the average age at death was 72.5 years.  Our thanks to KDHE/OVS for providing this information.

Statistics from previous years (1998-2006) can be found at  The Kansas Annual Summary of Vital Statistics

The KDHE/OVS web site is located at   Office of Vital Statistics

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The OVS Quarterly April 1, 2007 edition lists the following tips for hospitals and funeral homes regarding death:  " . . . If an infant is born alive, a birth certificate must be filed.  If the infant then dies, regardless of the length of time between the birth and death, a death certificate must be filed . . .  A stillbirth certificate must be filed if the infant is born dead and weighs more than 350 grams . . .

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Cross Connection and Backflow Prevention Information  

The issue of cross connection and backflow prevention came up recently when a Kansas funeral home was required to make some plumbing adjustments in their embalming/preparation room after being inspected by a representative from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), Division of Environmental Field Services.  While the KDHE does not have specific regulations or statutes which pertain to protection of the public water supply from backflow/backsiphonage from a funeral home, Kansas does have broad regulations and statutes concerning the protection of public water supply, including:

KAR 28-15-18.  See section (f).
To access all Kansas regulations, please select:  Kansas Regulations  and type in the regulation number (example:  28-15-18, then scroll down to section (f).)

KSA 65-163a, KSA 65-171g
To access all Kansas statutes, please select:  Kansas Statutes  and type in the statute number  (example:  65-171g)

Additional information can be found under the KDHE's  Bureau of Water  and  Engineering and Permits Unit  where you will find information on the KDHE's minimum design standards entitled "Policies, General Considerations, and Design Requirements for Public Water Supply Systems in Kansas," 1995 edition.

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   UPDATED 6-3-08   House Substitute for Senate BIll 226   The Kansas Funeral Privacy Act.  Passed the House, 123-0.  Passed the Senate, 40-0.  4/3/2008:  Approved by the Governor.  Similar to House Bill 2970.  Became effective upon publication in the Kansas Register:  April 10, 2008.

  UPDATED 6-3-08  Senate BIll 450  Involves the investment of permanent maintenance funds by cemetery corporations.  This bill was requested by the Kansas Secretary of State's Office.  2/13/2008:  The bill passed the Senate, 39-1, and the House, 123-0.  4/4/2008:  Approved by the Governor.  Effective after publication in the statute book.:  July 1, 2008.

  Senate Bill 682  Relating to final disposition of a decedent's remains.  Amending KSA 65-1734.  The bill was introduced March 14, 2008 by the Senate Ways and Means Committee and was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.  5/29/2008:  This bill died in the House Committee.

  Senate Bill 687   An act relating to veterans;  concerning the burial of unclaimed remains of any veteran;  amending KSA 65-1732 and repealing the existing section.  By the Committee of Federal and State Affairs.  Introduced in the Senate on March 18, 2008 and referred to the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee.  5/29/2008:  This bill died in the Senate Committee.

  ADDED 6-3-08  Senate Substitute for House Bill 2097   Involves the Fetal Disposition Act.  The original bill was Senate Substitute for House Bill 2341, but Substitute for House Bill 2097 was a result of a Conference Committe.  Section three of the bill contains the language involving fetal disposition.  The bill passed both the Senate and House and was signed by the Governor.  Effective upon publication in the Statute Book:  July 1, 2008.

  Substitute for House Bill 2618  Involves administrative procedure.  A hearing was conducted on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 in the House Judiciary Committee.  A substitute bill, containing major amendments passed the House, 120-2.   The bill would take away the authority of state agencies being able to conduct adjudicative hearings and would transfer that responsibility to the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH.)  A hearing was conducted on March 13, 2008 by the Senate Judiciary Committee.  The bill was amended in the Senate Committee and again on the floor of the Senate before it was referred back to the Senate Judiciary Committee on 3/28/2008.  If passed as amended, state agencies, including the KSBMA, would have to use the Office of Administrative Hearings for adjudicative hearings--instead of being able to handle by the agency, as is currently allowed.  This would result in additional unbudgeted expenses for costs of expert witness, hourly rates charged by OAH and would eliminate the expertise of board members when prosecuting cases.  No additional action was taken.

  UPDATED 6-3-08   House Bill 2656 Authorizes certain cemetery corporations to convey real estate not platted into cemetery lots free from trust restrictions.  The bill was referred to the House Judiciary Committee where a hearing was conducted and the bill was passed out of committee.  2/13/2008:  The bill passed the House, 122-0 and was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee where a hearing was conducted on Thursday, March 6, 2008.  The committee passed the bill out favorably and recommended it be placed on the Senate Consent Calendar.  It passed the Senate 40-0 on March 13, 2008.  On March 17, 2008 the House enrolled the bill and presented it to the Governor.  March 26, 2008:  The bill was approved by the Governor and will be effective upon publication in the Statute Book:  July 1, 2008.

  House Bill 2684  An act concerning crimes, criminal procedure and punishment;  relating to criminal desecration.  The bill was referred to  the House Judiciary Committee where a hearing was conducted  on Wednesday, February 6, 2008.  No additional action was taken, and the bill did not pass.

UPDATED 6-3-08  House Bill 2700  The bill would amend KSA 2007 Supp. 65-1753 to include allowing a dead human body to be transported from the place of death to a federally certified organ procurement organization serving the State of Kansas in addition to other locations already included in the statute.  The bill was amended in Conference Committee and contains language from House Bill 2768.  The bill was signed by Governor Sebelius on May 14, 2008 and will become law upon publication in the Statute Book:  July 1, 2008.

  ADDED 6-3-08  House Bill 2935   An act concerning cemetery corporations;  relating to the dissolution thereof;  amending KSA 17-1367 and repealing the existing section.  Passed the House, 125-0 and was referred to the Senate Elections and Local Government Committee.  No additional action taken, and the bill did not pass.

  ADDED 6-5-08   Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services (SRS) Funeral Assistance Program--Governor Sebelius included funding in the amount of $810,000 for the Funeral Assistance Program for fiscal year (FY) 2009 (July 1, 2008--June 30, 2009) in her budget recommendations.  The House and Senate adopted the Governor's recommendation, so the Funeral Assistance Program will be funded in FY 2009.

ADDED 6-3-08  The Legislature adjourned Sine Die on Thursday, May 29, 2008 for conclusion of the 2007-2008 Legislative Session.

For more information, please refer to the KSBMA's Legislative Information Page or to the Kansas Legislature's Web site.

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   Senate Bill 72   This bill was requested by the Mortuary Arts Board and was introduced by the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee on Thursday, January 11, 2007.  A hearing was conducted on Tuesday, January 16, 2007, and the bill was passed out favorably.  It passed the Senate 40-0.  The bill was amended (minor amendment) and passed out of the House Health and Human Services Committee on Thursday, March 1, 2007.  It was passed by the House, 118-3, then concurred by the Senate, 40-0.  Governor Sebelius signed the bill on Thursday, March 29, 2007.  The bill became law upon publication in the statute book/July 1, 2007. The portion of the Governor's Press Release of March 29, 2007 that addresses SB 72 is as follows:

Technical corrections for funeral directors

SB 72 makes technical corrections to the existing statutes under which funeral directors are regulated and licensed by the Board of Mortuary Arts. The bill also expands and clarifies the definition of “funeral director,” and the grounds for disciplinary action against a licensee.

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 Senate Bill 179  This bill was requested by the Kansas Funeral Directors Association and was introduced by the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee on Tuesday, January 23, 2007.  A hearing was conducted on Tuesday, February 13, 2007, and the bill was passed out favorably.   It passed the Senate 38-2, passed the House 82-40.   Governor Sebelius signed the bill on Monday, April 9, 2007.  The bill became law on January 1, 2008 with the testing requirements outlined in KAR 63-2-26 and KAR 63-4-1 going into effect February 8, 2008.  The portion of the Governor's Press Release of April 9, 2007 that addresses SB 179 is as follows:

Ensuring accountability among assistant funeral directors

SB 179 requires assistant funeral directors to pass an examination by the Board of Mortuary Arts before being licensed. Additionally, those seeking a license must have graduated from an accredited high school or have obtained the equivalent of a high school education after the effective date of the bill.  All applications received on and after February 8, 2008 will require passing a written examination and payment of an initial prorated license fee prior to licensure.

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  House Bill 2010 regarding the Anatomical Gift Act was passed by the legislature and was signed by Governor Sebelius on April 16, 2007.  The bill became law upon publication in the statute book/July 1, 2007.  The portion of the Governor's Press Release of April 16, 2007 that addresses HB 2010 is as follows:

Enacting the Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act

HB 2010 enacts the Revised Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (RUAGA), replacing the Kansas Uniform Anatomical Gift Act of 1968.  Key elements within the new act include provisions to comply with federal law, new definitions to clarify and expand the opportunities for anatomical gifts and the inclusion of anatomical gifts on donor registries. Additionally, the act makes transplantation and therapy a higher priority than research and education and allows a document of gift to specify a person to whom a part passes. A document of gift can also be amended or revoked under this bill. This bill provides immunity for “good faith” efforts to comply with the bill. It also creates the crimes of purchasing or selling body parts, intentionally falsifying, forging, concealing, defacing or obliterating a document of gift or an amendment or revocation of a document of gift, and refusal of a gift in order to obtain financial gain.

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  Senate Bill 51  will require the State Registrar of the Department of Health and Environment to furnish the clerk of the district court of each county, without charge, a list of deceased residents of the county who were at least 18 years of age and for whom death certificates have been filed.  The bill became law upon publication in the statute book/July 1, 2007.

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  House Substitute for Senate Bill 357 

This is the Legislature's 2007 Omnibus Appropriations Bill.  It contains funding for the Funeral Assistance Program which includes an additional $290,000 ($156,000 in increased rates and $134,000 to increase the number of funerals covered) for fiscal year 2008 (July 1, 2007--June 30, 2008.)  This would make total funding of $810,000 available for FY 2008.  Adjustments made by the Legislature can be found in the Conference Committee Report.  Page ten (10) of the report, item number eight (8) involves the Funeral Assistance Report.  These figures indicate that the current Funeral Assistance Benefit of $550 will be increased to $680.  KAR 30-4-98, which is the current Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services (SRS) regulation governing the Funeral Assistance Program, was amended on January 1, 2008.

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To see the full text of the bills, simply click on the bill numbers provided above.

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Information on all legislation can be obtained from the web site of the  Kansas Legislature .  Under the heading of Track a Bill (located towards the bottom of the right side of the home page) simply type in the bill number.

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Information and related statutes pertaining to Unclaimed Bodies can be found in an article written by Brian Vazquez titled "Kansas Dead Body Law."  Brian is the Administrator of the Estate Recovery Unit of the Division of Health Policy and Finance (HPF.)  The article was originally written for internal use by SRS field staff.  Thank you for sharing, Brian.

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Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Funeral Rule Information 

Information regarding Facts for Consumers, Funerals a Consumer Guide is located at:  http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/services/funeral.shtm

Information regarding Facts for Business, Complying With the Funeral Rule is located at:  http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/funeral.htm

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Newspaper Obituary Costs

Funeral Homes--Please be sure to let families know up front what newspapers are charging for publishing obituaries.  If possible, it would be nice to be able to tell families up front/prior to publication what the cost to publish an obituary will be.  I received an email from an individual who was informed, after the fact, of a charge for publishing a large obituary that was much more expensive than they had imagined.  If the family would have known up front what the charge was going to be, then they could have made a decision to either exclude some information or perhaps not to have run the obituary at all.  One Kansas funeral home uses a computer-generated form for preparing obituaries.  After struggling with the confusion of which newspapers charge vs. those that do not charge, the funeral home added the following in large font and bold letters for their families not wanting to spend money for a newspaper obituary:


If anyone has any other suggestions or methods currently being used regarding  the ability to inform families of newspaper obituary costs, please let us know--so we can share with everyone.  Thank you for your assistance and willingness to contribute!

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Information regarding the Flag of the United States of America:



For information on the Flag of the United States of America, you can view information at the web site of the American Legion.  Their web site discusses  the flag, the flag code and folding the flag.
Additional information can also be found at the Flag.

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A web site listing information for Kansas newspapers can be found at  USNPL.

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The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) offers a useful Business Pandemic Influenza Planning Checklist with some related materials at:
http://www.cdc.gov/business 

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The current address for the Estate Recovery Unit is:

Estate Recovery Unit (ERU)

Division of Health Policy and Finance (HPF)
P.O. Box 2428
Topeka, Kansas 66601

The telephone number for estate recovery inquiries is:  (785) 296-3349
Fax:  (785) 296-8017

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Information