Issue #1 · June 17, 2026
Colorado Restores Inspection Access; Everstory Acquires Again
Colorado restores public access to funeral home inspections, Everstory Partners acquires another cemetery, and Oklahoma becomes the first state to veto a human composting bill.
By Heidi Macomber, Founder, Obitley
Colorado just gave the public back its right to inspect funeral homes.
On June 6, Governor Jared Polis signed a bill restoring public access to funeral home inspection reports in Colorado. The state had quietly blocked that access in 2024, two years into a massive regulatory overhaul prompted by the Return to Nature funeral home scandal, where nearly 200 bodies were found improperly stored at a Penrose facility.
The new law also increases criminal penalties for abuse of a corpse convictions.
This matters beyond Colorado. The Return to Nature case was the worst funeral home scandal in recent U.S. history. It exposed how thin oversight is in states with minimal licensing requirements. Colorado had some of the loosest deathcare regulations in the country before the reforms began. Now, the state is setting a different template: more transparency, stiffer penalties, and public records that let families check a funeral home's history before they walk through the door.
Most states still do not make inspection reports easily accessible. That is worth watching.
Source: KUNC, "Colorado Restores Access to Funeral Home Inspection Reports," June 6, 2026.
Consolidation Watch
Everstory Partners acquires Franklin Memorial Park (Tennessee)
Everstory Partners, formerly StoneMor Inc. (NYSE: STON), has acquired Franklin Memorial Park in Tennessee. Everstory was taken private by Axar Capital Management in 2022 and rebranded. The company now operates 460+ locations across 23 states and Puerto Rico, serving approximately 66,000 families per year.
CEO Lilly Donohue came from Holiday Retirement and Fortress Investment Group. CIO William Corbett came from Wafra Inc. This is a financially sophisticated operation buying cemetery properties at scale.
The acquisition matters because it shows the post-StoneMor rebrand has not slowed the acquisition engine. Private equity is still rolling up independent cemeteries and funeral homes. If you own an independent property, your valuation is probably higher today than it was three years ago. If you are a family that just buried a loved one at a formerly independent cemetery, the new ownership may not be obvious from the signage.
Regulatory Roundup
Oklahoma governor vetoes human composting bill
Governor Kevin Stitt vetoed HB 3660, the "Burial Freedom Act," which would have made Oklahoma the 15th state to legalize natural organic reduction (NOR), also known as human composting. The bill passed both chambers of the legislature with bipartisan support before the veto.
Fourteen states have now legalized NOR: Washington, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont, California, New York, Nevada, Arizona, Delaware, Illinois, Minnesota, Maryland, Maine, and Connecticut. Every bill that reaches a governor's desk eventually gets signed. Oklahoma is the first veto.
The veto is worth watching because it may signal where the NOR movement hits its ceiling. Urban, coastal states have legalized it. The question is whether conservative, rural states will follow.
Regulatory Roundup
Alkaline hydrolysis update
Legal in 29 states and 5 Canadian provinces, according to industry tracking. The upcoming Eli Roth documentary "Death Boom" is bringing mainstream attention to water cremation, though early coverage has been sloppy about the legal status (it is not universally illegal, despite what some headlines suggest).
On the Horizon
CANA 108th Annual Cremation Innovation Convention - August 2026, Minneapolis
The Cremation Association of North America's annual convention is shaping up to be one of the most interesting deathcare events of the year. Sessions worth noting:
- ›Martha Thayer on AI in Funeral Service - Thayer, founder of Mortuary Training, will present practical guardrails for using AI-generated content in funeral homes. She pioneered the first fully accredited online mortuary science curriculum in the U.S. Her focus: keeping human judgment between families and AI tools.
- ›Tom Anderson on deathcare trends - The president of Funeral Director Daily examines which industry changes are fads and which are structural.
- ›Mentorship in the workforce - Allison Craft of Cremation Society Minnesota and Allison Henz of Foundation Partners Group discuss how mentorship impacts retention. Relevant given the ongoing funeral director shortage.
- ›Abandoned urns - Honnalora Hubbard of Coldspring USA addresses what she calls "a crisis in America": families never picking up cremated remains.
- ›CANA statistics history - Jason Engler presents historical cremation data showing how cremation went from a fringe experiment to the dominant form of disposition in the U.S.
By the Numbers
Projected U.S. cremation rate for 2025, according to NFDA. By 2030, CANA projects it will hit 70%.
Have legalized natural organic reduction (human composting). Oklahoma would have been #15.
Have legalized alkaline hydrolysis (water cremation), plus 5 Canadian provinces.
Everstory Partners portfolio size, post-StoneMor rebrand.
Service Corporation International (SCI), the largest deathcare operator in North America.
Estimated size of the U.S. deathcare market.
From Obitley This Week
2 new investigations published on obitley.com:
Oklahoma's Governor Just Vetoed Human Composting. The Disposal Freedom Fight Is Just Getting Started.
The full story behind the first gubernatorial veto of a NOR bill. Why it happened, who benefits, and what comes next.
Everstory Partners Acquires Franklin Memorial Park. Here Is What That Means for Tennessee Families.
How private equity is reshaping cemetery ownership, one property at a time.
The Weekly Deathcare Briefing is published every Tuesday by Obitley. If you have a tip, story idea, or correction, reply to this email.
Founder, Obitley · obitley.com
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