Section 43-18-70. Practice at licensed funeral establishment or crematory; facilities; living quarters

   (a) No embalmer or funeral director shall engage in the practice of embalming or funeral directing at a funeral establishment or crematory which is not licensed by the board.

(b) A funeral establishment must be at a specified street address or location and must have the following minimum facilities and equipment:

   (1) A room with adequate seating for a minimum of 30 people in which funeral services may be conducted;

   (2) A preparation room equipped with a nonporous, sanitary floor and walls, and necessary drainage and ventilation and containing necessary instruments and supplies for the preparation and embalming of dead human bodies;

   (3) A display room containing actual caskets or models, mock-ups, or sections of caskets or similar items if all such caskets are available and in stock for purchase at the establishment or can be delivered within 24 hours. Each funeral establishment shall maintain on the premises at each of its locations an adequate stock of funeral caskets which shall not be less than eight and which shall meet such other criteria as necessary to protect the public;

   (4) At least one operable motor hearse which is either owned or leased by the establishment and which has a current Georgia registration; and

   (5) At least one church truck.

(c) The board may adopt and enforce such rules as may be reasonable and proper to define such necessary drainage, ventilation, and sanitary flooring and walls and necessary and suitable instruments, supplies, and merchandise in a funeral establishment.

(d) If the funeral director resides in the funeral establishment to be accessible to the community for purposes of satisfying the requirements of funeral director in full and continuous charge, the living quarters in the funeral establishment must include at a minimum furnished sleeping quarters, cooking, refrigerating, and bathing facilities.

Code 1981, § 43-18-70, enacted by Ga. L. 1990, p. 1372, § 1; Ga. L. 2007, p. 552, § 2/HB 90.