§ 3450. Suspension and revocation of licenses. 1. The commissioner may
revoke or suspend any license of a funeral director, undertaker or
embalmer and, if such licensee shall be the owner of, or a member of a
partnership owning, a funeral firm or the licensed and registered
manager of a funeral firm owned by a corporation, any certificate of
registration of such firm, or may reprimand or otherwise discipline such
licensee or funeral firm in accordance with the provisions of this
article upon proof that such licensee or, in the case of such
corporation, that the corporation or one or more of its officers or
directors or one or more of its stockholders or other persons, firms or
corporations having a ten per centum or greater proprietary, beneficial,
equitable or credit interest therein:

(a) has violated any of the provisions of this article, the sanitary
code, the rules and regulations of the commissioner or of any statute,
code, rule or regulation relating to the practice of funeral directing,
embalming, or vital statistics;

(b) has been convicted of a crime;

(c) has practiced fraud, deceit or misrepresentation in securing or
procuring a license or admission to practice funeral directing,
undertaking, or embalming;

(d) is incompetent to engage in the business or practice of funeral
directing, undertaking, or embalming except that this provision shall
not apply to an officer, director or stockholder of, or other person
interested in, a corporation owning a funeral firm unless he shall be
the licensed and registered manager thereof;

(e) has practiced fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation in his business
or practice or in the business of such funeral firm;

(f) has committed acts of misconduct in the conduct of the business or
practice of funeral directing, undertaking, or embalming or in the
business of such funeral firm;

(g) is an habitual drunkard;

(h) is addicted to the use of morphine, opium, cocaine or other drugs
having a similar effect;

(i) has practiced or conducted the business of such funeral firm
without biennial registration of his license or of such firm;

(j) has employed, hired, procured or induced or otherwise aided or
abetted any person not licensed or registered to practice or hold
himself out as licensed, practicing, or entitled to practice as an
undertaker, or embalmer, or funeral director;

(k) has wrongfully transferred or surrendered possession, either
temporarily or permanently, of his license or certificate of
registration thereof or of the certificate of registration of such
funeral firm to any other person, partnership or corporation;

(l) has paid, given, has caused to be paid or given or offered to pay
or to give to any person a commission or other valuable consideration
for the solicitation or procurement, either directly or indirectly, of
funeral patronage, or has accepted any consideration (including without
limitation a commission, rebate, or discount or direct or indirect price
reduction on merchandise from the current value thereof) from any
financial institution or trust company, or agent thereof, with whom the
funeral director deposits funds paid for funeral services in advance of
need pursuant to subdivision one of section four hundred fifty-three of
the general business law except that the funeral director may accept,
from the financial institution, trust company or agent thereof, up to
twenty-five hundredths of one percent of the fee authorized under
paragraph (b) of subdivision three of section four hundred fifty-three
of the general business law for administrative services provided by the
funeral director, or has accepted any consideration (including without
limitation a commission or gift) from any insurer or agent thereof, to
sell, offer or promote the sale of any policy of insurance payable,
expressly or as marketed, at the death of the insured for funeral or
burial expenses;

(m) has been guilty of fraudulent, misleading or deceptive
advertising;

(n) has practiced funeral directing, undertaking or embalming, or has
conducted business as a funeral firm, under a false name;

(o) has impersonated another licensee or another funeral firm of a
like or different name; or

(p) has failed to comply with requirements set forth in section four
hundred fifty-three of the general business law, relating to moneys paid
in connection with agreements for funeral merchandise in advance of need
to be kept on deposit pending use or repayment except, that revocation
and suspension shall apply only in the case where a funeral director or
funeral firm has committed repeated violations of these provisions or
has committed a violation of the provisions of section four hundred
fifty-three of the general business law relating to failure to deposit
or hold moneys on deposit; failure to return such moneys and interest
thereon upon demand or upon the termination, cessation of operation or
discontinuance of any funeral firm, or a successor in interest; or
failure to comply with the requirements of paragraph (b) of subdivision
five of section four hundred fifty-three of the general business law
regarding compliance by transferors who receive such moneys.

2. The commissioner shall also have power, and after due notice and an
opportunity to be heard, to revoke or suspend the endorsement of a
funeral director, undertaker or embalmer license issued to any person
pursuant to the provisions of this article or any previous law upon
evidence that the duly constituted authorities of any state or political
subdivision of the United States have lawfully revoked or suspended the
funeral director, undertaker or embalmer license issued to such person
by such state or political subdivision.

3. The action of the commissioner in revoking or suspending such
license or certificate of registration of such funeral firm shall be
reviewable by the supreme court of the state of New York pursuant to the
provisions of article seventy-eight of the civil practice law and rules.

4. (a) A person convicted of a felony shall forfeit his license to
practice as a funeral director, undertaker, or embalmer, and upon
presentation to the department of a certified copy of a court record
showing that he has been convicted of a felony, that fact shall be noted
on the record of license, and the license shall be revoked, and the
registration shall be cancelled.

(b) If such conviction be subsequently reversed on appeal and the
accused acquitted or discharged, his license shall become again
operative from the date of such acquittal or discharge.

(c) The conviction of a felony aforementioned shall include the
conviction of a felony by any court in this state or by any court of the
United States or by any court of any other state of the United States;
provided, however, that if a crime of which the licensee is convicted by
any court of the United States or by any court of any other state is a
felony in the jurisdiction in which the conviction is had but is not a
felony in the state of New York, then the conviction shall not be deemed
a conviction of a felony for the purposes of this article. In the event
that a crime of which the licensee is convicted by any court of the
United States or by any court of any other state is not a felony in the
jurisdiction in which the conviction is had but is a felony in the state
of New York, then the conviction shall be deemed a conviction of a
felony for the purposes of this article.