1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the regulation of the sale of certain items used in
 1-3     funerals.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subsection C, Section 4, Chapter 251, Acts of the
 1-6     53rd Legislature, Regular Session, 1953 (Article 4582b, Vernon's
 1-7     Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
 1-8           C.  Each funeral establishment shall be required to have a
 1-9     physical plant, equipment and personnel consisting of the
1-10     following:
1-11                 1.  Some facilities in which funeral services may be
1-12     conducted;
1-13                 2.  A physical plant which meets building standards and
1-14     fire safety standards of the state and of the municipality in which
1-15     the establishment is located;
1-16                 3.  Access to rolling stock consisting of at least one
1-17     motor hearse;
1-18                 4.  A preparation room containing facilities,
1-19     equipment, and supplies required by commission rule to ensure the
1-20     provision of adequate embalming services and other facilities
1-21     necessary to comply with the sanitary code of the state and the
1-22     municipality in which the room is located;
1-23                 5.  A display containing sufficient merchandise to
1-24     permit reasonable selection, including five (5) or more adult
 2-1     caskets, two of which must be full-size, with [provided that] the
 2-2     least expensive casket being a full-size casket [offered for sale
 2-3     by a funeral establishment must be visibly] displayed [without
 2-4     concealment] in the same general manner as the other full-sized
 2-5     caskets [are] displayed;
 2-6                 6.  Sufficient licensed personnel who will be available
 2-7     to conduct the operation of the funeral establishment;
 2-8                 7.  A physical plant located at a fixed place, and not
 2-9     located on any tax-exempt property or cemetery; and
2-10                 8.  A physical plant which meets the health standards
2-11     or health ordinances of the state and of the municipality in which
2-12     the establishment is located.
2-13           It is expressly provided, however, that an establishment
2-14     which functions solely as a commercial embalmer, as that term is
2-15     defined in this Act, shall have a commercial embalmers
2-16     establishment license, but shall not be required to meet the
2-17     requirements of sub-sections 1 and 5 of this paragraph C.
2-18           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-19           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-20     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-21     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-22     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-23     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
         _______________________________     _______________________________
             President of the Senate              Speaker of the House
               I certify that H.B. No. 2255 was passed by the House on May
         4, 1999, by a non-record vote; and that the House concurred in
         Senate amendments to H.B. No. 2255 on May 22, 1999, by a non-record
         vote.
                                             _______________________________
                                                 Chief Clerk of the House
               I certify that H.B. No. 2255 was passed by the Senate, with
         amendments, on May 20, 1999, by a viva-voce vote.
                                             _______________________________
                                                 Secretary of the Senate
         APPROVED:  _____________________
                            Date
                    _____________________
                          Governor