November 16, 2023
Dear COA Holders,
I hope this letter finds you all well. The purpose of this letter is to inform you of the Preneed Sales Agent Registration process now that the Board has taken over preneed regulation.
First, and foremost, any registration of a Preneed Sales Agent (PSA) is the responsibility of the Certificate of Authority (COA) under which it will be registered. What that means is the COA holder must fill out the application along with the soon-to-be preneed sales agent, the COA holder agrees to be responsible for any act of selling preneed done by the PSA, and the COA holder agrees to notify the Board if the PSA is no longer selling preneed under the COA within 30 days of termination.
Due to the nature of preneed and how heavily the management of a consumer’s money is involved, there is a level of fitness requirements put in place that one must go through to become a Preneed Sales Agent. With that being said, with the passing of The Preneed Funeral and Cemetery Act of 2023 (SB131), a person must submit to a background check through the Board before a Preneed Sales Agent license will be issued. The background check application is included with the PSA registration application, but you are also required to submit 2 sets of fingerprints on the BLUE fingerprint cards. The state will not accept any other fingerprint cards besides the blue cards for the background check. Furthermore, a person may not receive a license until the results of the background check have been received and reviewed by the Board. Background checks are valid for one year with the Board, meaning, any PSA registration done within the year of the background check will not be required to resubmit to a background check. As long as the PSA remains active, no additional background checks will be required upon renewal.
If a person passes a background check, has fully and completely filled out the application to register as a PSA, and all the necessary application fees have been satisfied, they will be issued a Preneed Sales Agent license by the Board. This license must be on public display at the location of the COA they will be selling preneed under. The license will include the name of COA to which the PSA is registered. If a PSA moves to another COA, a new license will be issued with the correct COA name.
The license will also have a permanent PSA number. This number will be specifically assigned to one person, and will remain with that person, whether they are actively selling preneed or not. This number is different from the numbers previously assigned by the Department of Insurance as they were being assigned through a national insurance database and will no longer be associated with that database.
If a COA wishes to register a PSA that is already registered with another COA, a form must be submitted to the board for approval before the PSA may begin selling with another COA. Each COA must be in agreeance that the PSA will be selling preneed for both COAs. As long as those requirements are met, a new license will be issued to the PSA with the current names of all COAs that the PSA is selling under.
When a PSA is no longer affiliated with a COA, the COA holder must submit a cancellation form to the Board explaining the termination. This form must be submitted within 30 days after the termination has taken place. If the COA is the only COA that the PSA was selling under, the PSA becomes inactive until a new registration is received and reviewed by the Board.
All active PSA licenses are required to be renewed each year during the renewal period (July 1st through September 30th). If a PSA license is not renewed during that time or during the late renewal period (September 2nd through October 1st), then the PSA becomes inactive and must cease all preneed activity until the license is re-registered and all applicable fees are satisfied.
We hope that this has cleared up any question you may have regarding the registration of a Preneed Sales Agent. Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to the Board for assistance.
Sincerely,
Charles M. Perine