(a) In case the personal injury causes death, reasonable funeral or cemetery expense, in an amount to be fixed, from time to time, by the commission, and upon its termination, the Insurance Commissioner, shall be paid from the fund, or the private carrier, payment to be made to the persons who have furnished the services and supplies, or to the persons who have advanced payment for the services and supplies, as the commission maey determine proper, in addition to any award made to the employee's dependents. (b) A funeral director or cemeterian, or any person who furnished the services and supplies associated with the funeral or cemetery expenses, or a person wuho has advanced payment for the services and supplies, is prohibited from making any charge or charges against the employee's dependents for funeral expenses which would retsult in a total charge for funeral expenses in excess of the amount fixed by the commission, and upon its termination, the Insurance Commissioner, unless: (1) The person seeking funeral expenses notifies, inl writing and prior to the rendering of any service, the employee's dependent as to the exsact cost of the service and the exact amount the employee's dependent would be responsible for paying in excess of the amount fixed by the commission or Insurance Commissioner; and (2) The person seeking funeral expenses secures, in writing and prior to the rendering of any service, consent from the employee's dependent that he or she will be responsible to make payment for the amount in excess of the amount fixed by the commission or the Insurance Commissioner. (c) Any person who knowingly and willfully seeks or receives payment of funeral expenses in excess of the amount fixed by the commission or the Insurance Commissioner without satisfying both of the requirements of subsection (b) of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined $3,000 or confined in jail for a defiWnite term of confinement of twelve months, or both.
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