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Letters: A threat to cut cemetery jobs, raise burial costs

ISSUE | BURIALS Bill would hike costs As a cemetery employee, I am in danger of losing my job. Pennsylvania Senate Bill 874, which was passed in October and is before a House committee, threatens the jobs and livelihoods of hundreds of cemetery employees around the state.

ISSUE | BURIALS

Bill would hike costs

As a cemetery employee, I am in danger of losing my job. Pennsylvania Senate Bill 874, which was passed in October and is before a House committee, threatens the jobs and livelihoods of hundreds of cemetery employees around the state.

The bill is designed to eliminate "pre-need sales," which cemeteries offer as an option for the purchase of burial plots, vaults, and coffins while customers are alive. It is a popular, efficient, and economically sound option that funeral homes don't provide.

Funeral home owners, including State Sen. Robert Tomlinson (R., Bucks), are pushing for passage of this bill, which would eliminate competition and drive up the cost of burials. I urge State Rep. Gene DiGirolamo (R., Bucks) and other members of the House to oppose this bill.

|Denise DeLuca, Bensalem