7616. (a) A licensed funeral establishment is a place of business conducted in a building or separate portion of a building having a specific street address or location and devoted exclusively to those activities as are incident, convenient, or related to the preparation and arrangements, financial and otherwise, for the funeral, transportation, burial or other disposition of human remains and including, but not limited to, either of the following:
(1) A suitable room for the storage of human remains.
(2) A preparation room equipped with a sanitary flooring and necessary drainage and ventilation and containing necessary instruments and supplies for the preparation, sanitation, or embalming of human remains for burial or transportation.
(b) Licensed funeral establishments under common ownership or by contractual agreement within close geographical proximity of each other shall be deemed to be in compliance with the requirements of paragraph (1) or (2) of subdivision (a) if at least one of the establishments has a room described in those paragraphs.
(c) Except as provided in Section 7609, and except accredited mortuary science programs engaged in teaching students the art of embalming, no person shall operate or maintain or hold himself or herself out as operating or maintaining any of the facilities specified in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a), unless he or she is licensed as a funeral director.
(d) Nothing in this section shall be construed to require a funeral establishment to conduct its business or financial transactions at the same location as its preparation or storage of human remains.
(e) Nothing in this chapter shall be deemed to render unlawful the conduct of any ambulance service from the same premises as those on which a licensed funeral establishment is conducted, including the maintenance in connection with the funeral establishment of garages for the ambulances and living quarters for ambulance drivers.
(Amended by Stats. 2009, Ch. 308, Sec. 86.5. (SB 819) Effective January 1, 2010.)