By Swinford                                           H.B. No. 2255
         76R7029 MXM-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 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 [offered for sale by a funeral establishment
 2-3     must be visibly] displayed [without concealment] in the same
 2-4     general manner as the majority of the other caskets [are]
 2-5     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.  Section 4, Chapter 251, Acts of the 53rd
2-19     Legislature, Regular Session, 1953 (Article 4582b, Vernon's Texas
2-20     Civil Statutes), is amended by adding Subsection K to read as
2-21     follows:
2-22           K.  A person, including a business entity, that is not a
2-23     funeral establishment for purposes of this Act but that sells
2-24     funeral merchandise or caskets to the public, including a casket
2-25     store or a cemetery, is subject to the provisions of this section
2-26     relating to the sale to the public of funeral merchandise or
2-27     caskets. The commission shall adopt rules as necessary to implement
 3-1     this subsection.
 3-2           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 3-3           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
 3-4     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 3-5     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-6     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-7     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.