By Sibley S.B. No. 933
75R4690 DWS-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to prepaid funeral benefits.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 1(b), Chapter 512, Acts of the 54th
1-5 Legislature, Regular Session, 1955 (Article 548b, Vernon's Texas
1-6 Civil Statutes), is amended by amending Subdivision (9) and adding
1-7 Subdivisions (12), (13), and (14) to read as follows:
1-8 (9) "Prepaid funeral benefits" means prearranged or
1-9 prepaid funeral [or cemetery] services or funeral merchandise,
1-10 including an alternative container, casket, or outer burial
1-11 container [caskets, grave vaults, and all other articles of
1-12 merchandise incidental to a funeral service]. The term does not
1-13 include a grave, [lot, grave space, grave] marker, monument,
1-14 tombstone, crypt, niche, plot, or lawn crypt [mausoleum] unless it
1-15 is sold in contemplation of trade or barter for funeral services
1-16 and funeral merchandise to which this Act applies.
1-17 (12) "Crypt," "grave," "lawn crypt," "niche," and
1-18 "plot" have the meanings assigned those terms by Section 711.001,
1-19 Health and Safety Code.
1-20 (13) "Funeral merchandise" or "merchandise" means
1-21 goods sold or offered for sale on a preneed basis directly to the
1-22 public for use in connection with funeral services.
1-23 (14) "Funeral services" or "services" means services
1-24 sold or offered for sale on a preneed basis that may be used to:
2-1 (A) care for or prepare deceased human bodies
2-2 for burial, cremation, or other final disposition; or
2-3 (B) arrange, supervise, or conduct a funeral or
2-4 arrange for or supervise final disposition of deceased human
2-5 bodies.
2-6 SECTION 2. Section 5A, Chapter 512, Acts of the 54th
2-7 Legislature, Regular Session, 1955 (Article 548b, Vernon's Texas
2-8 Civil Statutes), is amended by adding Subsection (i) to read as
2-9 follows:
2-10 (i) The Commissioner may waive a limitation provided by
2-11 Subsection (e), (f), or (g) of this section, on written request of
2-12 a permit holder, if the Commissioner concludes that the waiver does
2-13 not threaten an unreasonable risk of loss to the prepaid funeral
2-14 benefits trust funds. The Commissioner by order shall approve or
2-15 disapprove the request not later than the 30th day after the date
2-16 the Commissioner receives the request. If the Commissioner does
2-17 not disapprove the request before the expiration of this period,
2-18 the request is approved. If the permit holder does not request a
2-19 hearing before the 11th day after the date of an order of
2-20 disapproval, the order takes effect on that 11th day. If a hearing
2-21 is timely requested, the hearing shall be conducted as a contested
2-22 case under Chapter 2001, Government Code.
2-23 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-24 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-25 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-26 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-27 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-1 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-2 passage, and it is so enacted.