Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed two bills into law Friday that overhaul state oversight of the funeral home industry after a series of gruesome discoveries, including 189 discomposing bodies in a facility and families being sent fake ashes.

Cases such as the 189 bodies found in a Return to Nature funeral home location put Colorado’s lax funeral home regulations — some of the weakest in the nation — in the spotlight and rocked hundreds of already grieving families.

Some families had ceremonially spread ashes that turned out to be fake. Others said they had nightmares about what their loved ones might have looked like in a decayed state.

“When grieving the loss of a loved one, the last thing a family should worry about is the trustworthiness and professionalism of those entrusted to care for the person who has passed,” Polis said in a statement.

The bill was sponsored by Reps. Matt Soper, R-Delta, and Brianna Titone, D-Arvada, and Sens. Dylanberts, D-Frisco, and Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs.

The new laws bring Colorado in line with most other states.

One requires regulators to routinely inspect funeral homes and give them more enforcement power. Another implements licensing for funeral directors and other workers in the industry. They would need to pass background checks and a national exam while possessing degrees and work experience.

Previously, funeral home directors in Colorado didn’t have to graduate from high school, let alone have a degree.

The funeral home industry was generally on board with the changes though some expressed concern that strict requirements for funeral home directors were unnecessary and would make it difficult to find hirable applicants.

The bill signings follow a rocky year for Colorado funeral homes.

In early October, neighbors noticed a putrid smell coming from a building in the town of Penrose, south of Colorado Springs. Authorities soon found 189 decaying bodies there including adults, infants and fetuses.

Some were stacked atop each other. Decomposition fluid covered the floors while flies and maggots swarmed.

Almost two dozen bodies dated to 2019 and some 60 more were from 2020. As the bodies were identified, families who had received ashes learned the cremains weren’t their loved ones.

The mother of a man whose body was found in the Penrose facility said she would keep after Colorado lawmakers to make sure the new laws are implemented stringently.

“I’m super excited. I think this is a great first step,” said Crystina Page, mother of David Jaxon Page, 20, who was killed by police during a mental health crisis in 2019. “But I feel like it’s about four years too late.”

The new laws should lead to regulations requiring crematoriums to independently verify the identity of remains, then certify to the state that those remains were cremated, Page said.

Joe Walsh, president of the Colorado Funeral Directors Association said his group had tried for more than a decade to get the state to require professional qualifications and licensing for people who work in the mortuary trade, especially given the state’s status as the nation’s laxest.

“This is what it took, sadly. On the backs of 200 people,” Walsh said. “That’s not the way it should be, but that’s what it’s come down to unfortunately.”

Walsh said he applauds the new legislation, but whether it achieves what is hoped will depend on how it’s enforced, and obeyed.

In most states, funeral homes are routinely inspected but no such rules were on the books in Colorado. The owners of the funeral home — Jon and Carrie Hallford — were arrested in November and collectively face hundreds of charges of abusing corpses and other counts.

Just months later, in February, a woman’s body was found in the back of hearse where a suburban Denver funeral home had left it for over a year. At least 30 sets of cremated remains were found stashed throughout the funeral director’s home.

The Gazette’s Mackenzie Bodell and Stephanie Earls contributed to this report.