Section 34-13-20
Creation; composition; qualifications of members; appointment and removal from board.
(a) There is established the Alabama Board of Funeral Service, consisting of nine members, each of whom shall be citizens of the United States and residents of the State of Alabama.
(b) The appointing authorities shall coordinate their appointments to assure board membership is inclusive and reflects the racial, gender, geographic, urban/rural, and economic diversity of the state.
(c) Commencing on January 1, 2019, as the terms of the members serving on the board on August 1, 2017, expire, the membership of the board shall be reconstituted to consist of seven professional members and two consumer members.
(1) Each professional member of the board shall be a citizen of the United States, a resident of Alabama, and licensed and in good standing with the board as an embalmer or funeral director at the time of appointment and during the entire term of office. Professional members of the board shall be appointed by the Governor pursuant to subsection (e).
a. Four of the professional members of the board shall hold a current license from the board to practice embalming in the state, shall have been actively practicing embalming in the state for the last 10 consecutive years immediately preceding appointment, and shall be engaged in the practice of embalming at the time of appointment to the board.
b. Three of the professional members of the board shall hold a current license from the board to practice funeral directing in the state, shall have been actively engaged in funeral directing in the state for the last 10 consecutive years immediately preceding appointment, and shall be the operator of a funeral establishment in this state at the time of appointment to the board.
(2) Each consumer member of the board shall represent the public in general and shall have been a citizen of the United States and a resident of Alabama for the last 10 consecutive years immediately preceding appointment and during the entire term of office. A consumer member of the board may not have held, nor currently hold, a license or certification issued by the board, be employed at any time by, or professionally or financially associated with, the holder of a license or certificate issued by the board, or be related within the third degree of consanguinity or affinity to the holder of a license or certificate issued by the board. One consumer member of the board shall be appointed by the Lieutenant Governor and one consumer member shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives pursuant to a procedure adopted by rule of the board.
(d) Commencing in October of 2018, and each October thereafter of a year where at least one professional member term on the board has expired, or is vacant for any reason, all licensed funeral directors and licensed embalmers shall meet in Montgomery, at a time and place fixed by the board, for the purpose of nominating and submitting the names of three licensed persons for each position on the board to the Governor. The Governor shall promptly appoint one of the three persons so nominated to serve as a professional member of the board.
(e)(1) Professional and consumer members of the board shall serve staggered terms of four years each to provide continuity of service on the board. If an appointment is not made before the expiration of a term, the board member then serving may continue to serve until a successor has been appointed. A board member may not serve more than two full consecutive terms on the board.
(2) A board member who is appointed to fill a vacancy which occurs before the expiration of the term of the vacating member shall serve the remaining portion of the term to which the former member was appointed. If a member is appointed to fill an unexpired term of less than two years, the time may not be counted toward the maximum eight years of service.
(3) Not more than one professional member of the board may reside in the same district as created by Section 34-13-21.
(4) At each meeting where nominations are made for the professional members of the board, only one licensed funeral director or licensed embalmer employed by the same funeral establishment may vote.
(f)(1) In accordance with applicable law, in addition to a board member resigning from the board in writing, a board member may be removed from the board for any of the following grounds:
a. The refusal or inability to perform board duties in an efficient, responsible, or professional manner.
b. The misuse of his or her position on the board to obtain financial gain or seek personal advantage for himself, herself, or another person.
c. A final adjudication or determination of guilt by any lawful authority of the board member or sanction of the board member for the violation of any law the board determines is substantially related to any practice governed by this chapter.
d. The revocation or suspension of the license of a professional member of the board.
(2) Any board member who fails to qualify after appointment shall automatically become ineligible to serve as a member of the board and a new member, properly qualified, shall be appointed in the same manner as the original appointment and shall serve the remainder of the term of the vacating board member.
(3) If a consumer board member fails to attend two or more meetings within a year, without a valid excuse as determined by the board, he or she shall be removed from the board. A new consumer board member shall be appointed in the same manner as the original appointment and shall serve the remainder of the term.
(Acts 1975, No. 214, p. 705, §3; Acts 1983, No. 83-746, p. 1235, §1; Act 2009-12, p. 22, §3; Act 2011-623, p. 1439, §1; Act 2014-125, p. 206, §1; Act 2017-433, §1; Act 2018-451, §1.)