Funeral establishments: apprenticeship training.

Existing law, the Cemetery and Funeral Act, defines an apprentice embalmer as a person engaged in the study of embalming under the instruction and supervision of a licensed embalmer who has had at least 2 years' of practical experience as a licensed embalmer. Existing law requires the apprenticeship to be served in a licensed funeral establishment that has been approved for apprenticeship training by the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau. Under existing law, in order to qualify for approval, the funeral director is required to submit to the bureau a specified application demonstrating, among other things, that the funeral establishment will continue to have a full-time employed embalmer with not less than 2 years' of practical experience as a licensed embalmer. This bill would instead require the funeral establishment to submit that application and would additionally authorize the funeral establishment to have a trade embalmer, as defined, who is hired by the establishment on a case-by-case basis, for purposes of satisfying the application requirements.