By: Oliverson H.B. No. 3357
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to cremation authorization procedures in counties with
medical examiners.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 716.051, Health and Safety Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 716.051. CREMATION AUTHORIZATION. Except as otherwise
provided in this chapter, a crematory establishment may not cremate
deceased human remains until it receives:
(1) a cremation authorization form signed by an
authorizing agent; [and]
(2) a death certificate or other death record that
indicates the deceased human remains may be cremated; and
(3) for a death that occurred in a county with a
medical examiner appointed in accordance with Article 49.25, Code
of Criminal Procedure, a certificate signed by the medical examiner
indicating the medical examiner:
(A) examined the human remains and certified an
inquest was unnecessary;
(B) chose not to examine the human remains and
authorized release of the remains for cremation; or
(C) held an inquest and authorized release of the
human remains for cremation.
SECTION 2. Section 6(a), Article 49.25, Code of Criminal
Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
(a) Any medical examiner, or his duly authorized deputy,
shall be authorized, and it shall be his duty, to hold inquests with
or without a jury within his county, in the following cases:
1. When a person shall die within twenty-four hours
after admission to a hospital or institution or in prison or in
jail;
2. When any person is killed; or from any cause dies an
unnatural death, except under sentence of the law; or dies in the
absence of one or more good witnesses;
3. When the body or a body part of a person is found and
either:
(A) the person is identified but the cause or
circumstances of death are unknown; or
(B) the person is unidentified, regardless of
whether the cause or circumstances of death are known;
4. When the circumstances of the death of any person
are such as to lead to suspicion that he came to his death by
unlawful means;
5. When any person commits suicide, or the
circumstances of his death are such as to lead to suspicion that he
committed suicide;
6. When a person dies without having been attended by a
duly licensed and practicing physician, and the local health
officer or registrar required to report the cause of death under
Section 193.005, Health and Safety Code, does not know the cause of
death. When the local health officer or registrar of vital
statistics whose duty it is to certify the cause of death does not
know the cause of death, he shall so notify the medical examiner of
the county in which the death occurred and request an inquest;
7. When the person is a child who is younger than six
years of age and the death is reported under Chapter 264, Family
Code; [and]
8. When a person dies who has been attended
immediately preceding his death by a duly licensed and practicing
physician or physicians, and such physician or physicians are not
certain as to the cause of death and are unable to certify with
certainty the cause of death as required by Section 193.004, Health
and Safety Code. In case of such uncertainty the attending
physician or physicians, or the superintendent or general manager
of the hospital or institution in which the deceased shall have
died, shall so report to the medical examiner of the county in which
the death occurred, and request an inquest; and
9. When a medical examiner examines human remains
before authorizing a cremation under Section 716.051, Health and
Safety Code, and determines performance of an inquest is necessary.
SECTION 3. Section (b), Chapter 181.2, Texas Administrative
Code, is amended to read as follows:
(b) If a dead body or fetus is to be removed from this state,
transported by common carrier within this state, or cremated, the
funeral director, or person acting as such, shall obtain a
burial-transit permit from the Local Registrar where the death
certificate is or will be filed, or from the State Registrar
electronically through a Vital Statistics Section electronic death
registration system. The registrar shall not issue a
burial-transit permit until a certificate of death, completed in so
far as possible and a cremation authorization permit issued in
accordance with Health and Safety Code Section 716.05(3)hashave
been presented (See ยง181.6 of this title (relating to
Disinterment)).
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.