By: Perry S.B. No. 988
(Frullo, Burrows)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the prohibited disposition of a decedent's remains by a
person charged with certain criminal conduct against the decedent;
providing an administrative penalty.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. This Act may be cited as the Holly Combs Act.
SECTION 2. Section 711.002(l), Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
(l) A person listed in Subsection (a) may not control the
disposition of the decedent's remains if, in connection with the
decedent's death, an indictment has been filed charging the person
with a crime under Chapter 19, Penal Code, that involves family
violence against the decedent. A person regulated under Chapter
651, Occupations Code, who knowingly allows the person charged with
a crime to control the disposition of the decedent's remains in
violation of this subsection commits a prohibited practice under
Section 651.460, Occupations Code, and the Texas Funeral Service
Commission may take disciplinary action or assess an administrative
penalty against the regulated person under that chapter.
SECTION 3. Section 651.460(a), Occupations Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) A person violates this chapter if the person:
(1) arranges for funeral services or merchandise and
fails to provide a customer with a purchase agreement as required by
Section 651.406;
(2) fails to retain and make available to the
commission, on request, copies of all price lists, written notices,
embalming documents, and memoranda of agreement required by this
chapter for two years after the date of distribution or signing;
(3) violates this chapter, a rule adopted under this
chapter, an order by the commission revoking, suspending, or
probating a license, an order assessing an administrative penalty,
or an agreement to pay an administrative penalty;
(4) allows the use of a dead human body by an embalming
establishment for research or educational purposes without
complying with Section 651.407; [or]
(5) is associated with a funeral establishment,
whether as an employee, agent, subcontractor, assignee, owner, or
otherwise, and fails to comply with this chapter or a rule adopted
under this chapter; or
(6) knowingly violates Section 711.002(l), Health and
Safety Code.
SECTION 4. 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, 2015.