445.04 Funeral directors; licenses.
(1) Except for conducting funeral services, the business of a funeral director must be conducted in a funeral establishment that has been issued a permit by the examining board.
(2) Except as provided in s. 257.03, no person may engage in the business of a funeral director, or make a representation as engaged in such business, in whole or in part, unless first licensed as a funeral director by the examining board. Application for a license, other than a renewal, shall be in writing and verified on a form to be furnished by the department. The application must specify the address at which the applicant proposes to conduct the business of a funeral director and shall contain such other information as the examining board requires to determine compliance with the requirements of this chapter. Accompanying the application shall be the initial credential fee determined by the department under s. 440.03 (9) (a), together with affidavits of recommendation from at least 2 persons of the county in which the applicant resides or proposes to conduct the business of a funeral director.
(3)
(a) Written examinations for a funeral director's license under pars. (b) and (c) shall be held at least once a year and shall be conducted by the examining board at a time and place to be designated by the examining board.
(b) The comprehensive examination shall include the subjects of:
1. Funeral directing and burial or other disposition of dead human bodies;
2. Anatomy, bacteriology, autopsy, chemistry and practical embalming; and
3. Sanitary science, public health, transportation, business ethics and the laws of this state and rules of the department of health services relating to communicable diseases, quarantine and causes of death.
(c) The jurisprudence examination shall test the applicant's knowledge of state law relating to funeral directing.
History: 1971 c. 301; 1975 c. 39 ss. 653, 732 (2); 1975 c. 199; 1977 c. 29, 418; 1979 c. 175 s. 29; 1979 c. 221 s. 661; Stats. 1979 s. 445.04; 1981 c. 162, 380; 1983 a. 485; 1991 a. 39; 1995 a. 27 s. 9126 (19); 2005 a. 266; 2007 a. 20 ss. 3514, 9121 (6) (a); 2009 a. 42; 2017 a. 331.