By Bob Katzen

On March 12, 2020, the House gave initial approval to a bill that would require funeral homes to provide veterans with information about all the funeral and burial benefits available to them. The bill has been stuck in the Bills in Third Reading Committee, chaired by Rep. Bill Galvin (D-Canton) since its passage.

“The issue was brought to my attention by a family that had a funeral of a veteran family member,” said Rep. Steven Howitt (R-Seekonk) the sponsor of the bill. “They learned about VA funeral benefits after the fact. They were not advised of benefits by the funeral home. This legislation would bring additional transparency to this industry. I am disappointed that a commonsense bill, that assists veterans and their families, is not being released out of committee. I intend to correspond with the outgoing committee chair to release this bill.”