82R9266 EES-F
By: Gutierrez H.B. No. 1708
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the regulation of funeral directing and embalming.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 651.303(b) and (c), Occupations Code,
are amended to read as follows:
(b) The commission by rule shall define the terms of
employment of a provisional license holder. The terms of
employment[:
[(1)] must include service by the provisional license
holder[:
[(A) of at least 17 hours a week or 73 hours a
month; and
[(B)] under actual working conditions and under
the personal supervision of a funeral director or embalmer[; and
[(2) may not require more than 17 hours a week or 73
hours a month].
(c) The term of the provisional license program must be at
least 12 consecutive months but not more than 24 consecutive
months.
SECTION 2. Sections 651.401(a) and (d), Occupations Code,
are amended to read as follows:
(a) A funeral director [or embalmer] must direct and
personally supervise the pickup of a dead human body on first call.
(d) A funeral director [or embalmer] who directs the removal
or transfer of a dead human body without personally supervising the
transfer is strictly accountable for compliance with the
requirements of first call as provided by this section.
SECTION 3. Section 651.459, Occupations Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a) and (c) and adding Subsection (d) to read
as follows:
(a) A person violates this chapter if the person:
(1) wilfully makes a false statement on:
(A) a death certificate, including forgery of a
physician's signature; or
(B) a document required by this chapter or a rule
adopted under this chapter;
(2) engages in fraudulent, unprofessional, or
deceptive conduct in providing funeral services or merchandise to a
customer;
(3) engages in dishonest and [conduct,] wilful
conduct[, or negligence] in the practice of embalming or funeral
directing that is likely to or does deceive or[,] defraud[, or
otherwise injure] the public;
(4) causes the execution of a document by the use of
fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation;
(5) directly or indirectly employs a person to solicit
individuals or institutions by whose influence dead human bodies
may be turned over to a particular funeral director, embalmer, or
funeral establishment;
(6) misappropriates funds held by a license holder, a
funeral establishment, an employee or agent of the funeral
establishment, or another depository, that create an obligation to
provide a funeral service or merchandise, including retaining for
an unreasonable time excess funds paid by or on behalf of the
customer for which the customer is entitled to a refund; or
(7) performs acts of funeral directing or embalming
that are outside the licensed scope and authority of the license
holder, or performs acts of funeral directing or embalming in a
capacity other than that of an employee, agent, subcontractor, or
assignee of a licensed funeral establishment that has contracted to
perform those acts.
(c) A funeral director in charge violates this chapter if
the funeral director in charge fails to provide a funeral director
[or an embalmer] for direction or personal supervision for a first
call.
(d) For purposes of this section, a person engages in
unprofessional conduct if:
(1) the person knowingly commits an act in connection
with providing funeral services or merchandise to a customer that
violates federal or state law; and
(2) the act is committed with the intent to deceive or
defraud the public.
SECTION 4. Subchapter K, Chapter 651, Occupations Code, is
amended by adding Section 651.5011 to read as follows:
Sec. 651.5011. CHARGING FUNERAL DIRECTOR IN CHARGE WITH
VIOLATION. In determining whether to charge a funeral director in
charge with a violation, the commission shall consider:
(1) the nature and seriousness of the violation;
(2) the extent to which the employee or agent of the
funeral establishment whose conduct is the basis of the violation
was under the direct supervision of the funeral director in charge
or another person at the time the employee or agent engaged in the
conduct;
(3) the extent to which a licensed employee of the
funeral establishment was directly responsible for the conduct that
is the basis of the violation; and
(4) the causal connection between the supervision of
the employee or agent of the funeral establishment by the funeral
director in charge and the conduct engaged in by the employee or
agent that is the basis of the violation.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2011.