Florida SB 598: Back-to-school Sales Tax Holiday

Bill Text

598 
Funeral, Cemetery, and Consumer Services 
2026-03-18T10:57:30Z 
Prohibiting a licensee of funeral or cemetery services from entering into certain contracts, agreements, or arrangements; revising the requirements for an applicant seeking licensure by endorsement to be an embalmer; deleting an exception to the educational requirements for an applicant seeking licensure to be a funeral director; authorizing a licensee or a licensed facility to dispose of human remains in a specified manner if the legally authorized person of the decedent fails, neglects, or refuses to direct the disposition, etc. 
ENROLLED 
2026 
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2026-07-01T00:00:00Z 
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General Bill 
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 ENROLLED 
 2026 Legislature CS for CS for SB 598 

 2026598er 
 1 
 2 An act relating to funeral, cemetery, and consumer 
 3 services; amending s. 497.164, F.S.; prohibiting a 
 4 licensee of funeral or cemetery services from entering 
 5 into certain contracts, agreements, or arrangements; 
 6 amending s. 497.263, F.S.; revising the procedures for 
 7 applicants seeking a cemetery license; amending s. 
 8 497.270, F.S.; conforming a provision to changes made 
 9 by the act; amending s. 497.369, F.S.; revising the 
 10 requirements for an applicant seeking licensure by 
 11 endorsement to be an embalmer; amending s. 497.374, 
 12 F.S.; revising the requirements for an applicant 
 13 seeking licensure by endorsement to be a funeral 
 14 director; amending s. 497.375, F.S.; deleting an 
 15 exception to the educational requirements for an 
 16 applicant seeking licensure to be a funeral director; 
 17 amending s. 497.376, F.S.; revising the requirements 
 18 for an applicant seeking a license by endorsement as a 
 19 combination funeral director and embalmer; amending s. 
 20 497.377, F.S.; revising the educational requirements 
 21 for licensure to be a combination funeral director and 
 22 embalmer intern; amending s. 497.386, F.S.; 
 23 authorizing a licensee or a licensed facility to 
 24 dispose of human remains in a specified manner if the 
 25 legally authorized person of the decedent fails, 
 26 neglects, or refuses to direct the disposition; 
 27 amending s. 497.459, F.S.; revising the method in 
 28 which a preneed licensee must send written notice to 
 29 cancel a preneed contract; authorizing the Board of 
 30 Funeral, Cemetery, and Consumer Services to adopt 
 31 rules; amending s. 497.607, F.S.; revising the 
 32 timeframe after which a funeral or direct disposal 
 33 establishment may dispose of cremated remains if the 
 34 remains have not been claimed; amending s. 627.404, 
 35 F.S.; revising the exceptions to the prohibition 
 36 relating to personal insurance; reenacting s. 
 37 497.260(5), F.S., relating to cemeteries, exemptions, 
 38 investigations, and mediation, to incorporate the 
 39 amendment made to s. 497.263, F.S., in a reference 
 40 thereto; providing an effective date. 
 41 
 42 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 
 43 
 44 Section 1. Subsection (6) is added to section 497.164, 
 45 Florida Statutes, to read: 
 46 497.164 Solicitation of goods or services.— 
 47 (6) A licensee under this chapter may not enter into a 
 48 contract, agreement, or other arrangement in which such licensee 
 49 or any affiliated licensee becomes the exclusive or sole 
 50 provider of funeral, cremation, refrigeration, or removal 
 51 services for any entity that provides medical, palliative, or 
 52 other end-of-life care and services to the general public. 
 53 Section 2. Paragraph (g) of subsection (2) of section 
 54 497.263, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: 
 55 497.263 Cemetery companies; license required; licensure 
 56 requirements and procedures.— 
 57 (2) APPLICATION PROCEDURES.— 
 58 (g) The proposed cemetery must contain at least 30 
 59 contiguous acres. Such acreage must be contiguous, except that 
 60 parcels of land divided solely by a public right-of-way or 
 61 public road may be considered contiguous, provided the parcels 
 62 are in close geographic proximity and form a unified cemetery 
 63 property. The application must state the exact number of acres 
 64 in the proposed cemetery and must identify any public rights-of 
 65 way or roads dividing the parcels. Parcels located in separate 
 66 or distant geographic areas, even if along the same roadway or 
 67 corridor, do not satisfy the contiguity requirement of this 
 68 paragraph The application shall state the exact number of acres 
 69 in the proposed cemetery. 
 70 Section 3. Subsection (2) of section 497.270, Florida 
 71 Statutes, is amended to read: 
 72 497.270 Minimum acreage; sale or disposition of cemetery 
 73 lands.— 
 74 (2) Any lands owned by a licensee and dedicated for use by 
 75 it as a cemetery, which meet the criteria set forth in s. 
 76 497.263(2)(g) are in excess of a minimum of 30 contiguous acres, 
 77 may be sold, conveyed, or disposed of by the licensee, after 
 78 obtaining written approval pursuant to procedures