Minnesota Session Laws - 1999, Regular Session

                            CHAPTER 100-S.F.No. 1182 
                  An act relating to commerce; regulating insurance for 
                  funeral or burial expenses; allowing funeral 
                  establishments to sell funeral insurance and receive 
                  commissions for these sales; amending Minnesota 
                  Statutes 1998, section 72A.325. 
        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
           Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 72A.325, is 
        amended to read: 
           72A.325 [INSURANCE FOR FUNERAL OR BURIAL EXPENSE; FREEDOM 
        OF CHOICE.] 
           No insurance company, agent, or other person engaged in the 
        business of providing insurance or other benefits for the 
        payment of any funeral or burial expense, shall designate, 
        endorse, or otherwise promote any particular mortician, funeral 
        director, funeral establishment, cemetery, or any other party 
        offering funeral or burial services or supplies, as the 
        beneficiary or recipient of the benefits, so as to deprive the 
        family, next of kin, or other representative of the deceased 
        policyholder persons with legal authority to control the 
        disposition of the remains of the deceased policyholder under 
        section 149A.80, subdivision 2, of the right to select the 
        funeral or burial services and supplies of their choice.  No 
        owner, director, or employee of a funeral establishment, or 
        entity having a direct equity interest in a funeral 
        establishment, shall receive any fee, commission, or other 
        reimbursement on any insurance sale facilitated through the 
        funeral establishment, except the sale of a preneed funeral 
        insurance contract with a face amount not to exceed $20,000.  
           No owner, director, or employee of a funeral establishment 
        shall receive any fee for endorsing insurance policies, plans, 
        or services. 
           For purposes of this section, "preneed funeral insurance 
        contract" means an agreement by or for an individual before that 
        individual's death relating to the purchase or provision of 
        specific funeral or cemetery merchandise or services.  
           Nothing in this section constitutes a waiver or exception 
        to the requirements of chapter 60K. 
           Presented to the governor April 22, 1999 
           Signed by the governor April 26, 1999, 1:15 p.m.