Pennsylvania state senator renews push for legislation to regulate pet cremation

It’s been one year since the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General brought charges against former Pittsburgh-area funeral home owner Patrick Vereb. He’s accused of deceiving more than 6,500 pet owners and denying them promised burial services.

State Sen. Nick Pisciottano of West Mifflin says critical legislation isn’t moving along like it should, so he’s asking pet owners to get on social media and call their state senators.

“We’re never going to be able to go back in time and make those things not happen for folks, but we do have the opportunity here, now that we’ve identified this gap in state law, to make sure that there are proper safeguards in place so that this never happens again in the future,” Pisciottano said. 

Investigators said nearly 6,500 pets were promised a proper burial by Vereb, but instead their bodies were dumped in landfills or left in leaking garbage bags. 

Pisciottano says legislation is needed to make sure that never happens again, which is why he sent out a letter, encouraging people “harmed by the lack of oversight in this industry” to get loud again. 

“In Harrisburg, this bill passed unanimously in the state House, 203 representatives all voted for it. I don’t think that it’s a partisan issue, or an issue where there’s two sides that are for and against, and so we got to make sure this bill is high enough on the priority list of enough senators so that we can move this legislation forward.” 

Both the House bill and the Senate bill remain stalled in the Senate, awaiting any movement. They hope to increase transparency in pet cremation bookkeeping and require providers to detail services and certify the return of cremated remains, among many other things. But until either bill gets considered, it can’t go up for any sort of vote.

“So if it doesn’t get done by the end of November, it has to start all over, so we would have to reintroduce in the House, reintroduce in the Senate, it would have to pass through the House again, it would still have to pass through the Senate,” Pisciottano said. “And so, our argument is, if there’s no opposition, and we’re halfway to the finish line, why can’t we just get it done this year?” 

Pet parent Megan Lindeman is forever thinking about what happened to her Persian cat, Rory. She says the trust is broken and this legislation will help restore it. 

“It passed unanimously in the House and to have it not go anywhere at this point is incredibly frustrating,” Lindeman said. 

She said families who were grieving were taken advantage of, and there needs to be accountability, “so that we can restore trust and transparency.”

Pet parents are encouraged to call their senators and ask them to take this legislation up for a vote. KDKA reached out to Sen. Joe Pittman, who controls the schedule for the floor, to ask if he plans to bring it up for a vote, but didn’t hear back.