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OUR VIEW: Cemetery regulations need softening, but oversight is needed

Share  04/25/2011, 11:48 pm
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THE ISSUE: Lawmakers discuss rolling back cemetery act regulations

OUR VIEW: Oversight is needed, but legislators need to find the right balance

The Cemetery Oversight Act passed in 2010 imposed new state regulations on many private cemeteries, increasing personal liability for cemetery officials and increasing financial burdens on the cemeteries.

The legislation was inspired by the shocking conditions at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, where investigators found bones and caskets dumped in heaps after allegedly being dug up so plots could be reused. Cemetery records also had disintegrated or vanished.