Oregon Mortuary and Cemetery Board Statutes and Administrative Rules
What the board does
The Oregon Mortuary and Cemetery Board (OMCB) administers ORS chapter 692 (funeral services), related provisions in ORS chapter 97 (cemeteries, disposition, and cremation), and OAR chapter 830. The board adopts administrative rules, issues and renews licenses, approves apprenticeships and continuing education, investigates complaints, and imposes discipline. Members are governor-appointed and include licensed funeral service practitioners, a cemetery representative, and public members. The exam tests both the statutory grant of authority and the board’s own procedural rules.
Statutory versus rule-level law
Statutes set the broad requirements-license categories, prohibited conduct, penalty ranges, and preneed trust duties. Administrative rules fill in operational detail: application forms, room requirements, record retention, inspection intervals, and hearing procedure. When a question asks “what must a licensee do,” look for the OAR specifics; when it asks “what can the board do,” look for the ORS grant.
Worked example
A funeral home’s preparation room lacks a required hand-washing sink. The statute says establishments must be sanitary; the rule specifies the sink. The citation is founded on the rule, but the board’s authority to cite comes from the statute. That two-layer reasoning is what the exam rewards.
Traps
Do not assume the board enforces the federal FTC Funeral Rule as such; Oregon enforces its own statutes and rules, while the FTC enforces federal requirements. Do not confuse the board with the Oregon Health Authority’s vital records office-the board licenses practitioners, while OHA runs death registration. Do not treat advisory opinions as binding rules.