Illinois lawmaker drafting unified oversight bill after more than 50 bodies found at South Chicago Chapel

After more than 50 decomposing bodies were found at a South Side Chicago funeral home in August, Illinois officials are calling for a single agency to regulate both funeral homes and crematories. The state currently splits that job between two offices, and the two agencies describe their own authority in terms that show clearly where the division falls. ABC7 reports that officials say the dual-license structure means a funeral director can keep working in death care after losing just one of the two licenses.

What happened at South Chicago Chapel

In August 2026, more than 50 decomposing bodies were found improperly stored at South Chicago Chapel, a funeral home on Chicago’s South Side. The week before ABC7’s September 29 report, investigators raided a second business run by the same couple who operated the chapel. Neither report says what charges, if any, have been filed.

How oversight is divided

Illinois splits death care licensing between two agencies. Crematories fall under the Office of the Comptroller; IDFPR holds licensing authority over funeral directors and embalmers. Both ABC7 and Funeral Director Daily describe the arrangement in those terms.

The IDFPR page for the profession lists four credentials: Funeral Director; Funeral Director and Embalmer; Funeral Director and Embalmer CE Sponsor; and Funeral Director and Embalmer Intern. It links to the Funeral Director Act and Funeral Director Rules. The page covers professional credentials for individuals and says nothing about licensing funeral home establishments or inspections.

ABC7 reports that officials say the division matters in practice: funeral directors can also hold cremation licenses, so losing one does not automatically revoke the other. Funeral Director Daily makes the point another way: when oversight is split, someone with problems in one licensing system can still hold a valid license in the other. Officials argue the split is what allows someone to retain a foothold in death care after losing one credential. What coordination, if any, currently happens between the two agencies, the sources do not say.

What officials want to change

Comptroller Susana Mendoza told ABC7 the current system is “100% dysfunctional” and that she has been calling to bring these services “under one umbrella.” She plans to push for legislation during the veto session. The governor’s office told ABC7 it is examining how concerns about funeral homes and crematories get reported and investigated, and that legislation is in progress.

Rep. Diane Blair-Sherlock chairs the committee that handles death care legislation. She told ABC7 she is drafting legislation to consolidate death care licensing under one authority, with the goals of cutting red tape and protecting grieving families. “We need to consolidate that into one roof,” she said. She also told ABC7 that regular inspections are not unreasonable and are worth doing.

Funeral Director Daily notes that Mendoza is a candidate for Chicago mayor, a fact the Comptroller’s own pages do not supply.

Funeral director Eric Hoffman told ABC7 the situation at South Chicago Chapel is an anomaly and that most funeral home directors he knows operate above board. He also described a separate issue: once a funeral home takes custody of a body, Illinois law gives it no mechanism to hand remains back to the family or a medical examiner. Disputes over arrangements or who will pay can leave a home holding remains it cannot release. Hoffman said cases like that, multiplied by ten, leave a funeral home with “basically a warehouse of bodies” still in its care. Funeral Director Daily describes the same broadcast, including an unnamed funeral director raising a similar concern. Neither report cites the specific statute Hoffman is describing.

What the sources leave open

ABC7 cites the International Conference of Funeral Service Examining Boards, which conducted a survey in 2025 and found Illinois among only four states that do not routinely inspect funeral homes. That survey was not available for this review; the figure comes from ABC7’s account alone.

Funeral Director Daily mentions a law taking effect in January, with no year given, that would grant the Comptroller additional authority over crematories. That law does not appear in the IDFPR page or in ABC7’s report and is not treated as confirmed here.

No bill number or draft text has been published for Blair-Sherlock’s proposal. ABC7 gives no date for the veto session. Neither report describes what either agency knew about South Chicago Chapel before August, or when the conditions there began. Whether a single regulator would have identified the situation sooner is the implicit premise of the consolidation case, and nothing in the sources comes close to testing it.