1-1 By: Swinford (Senate Sponsor - Duncan) H.B. No. 2255
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 5, 1999;
1-3 May 6, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
1-4 Administration; May 14, 1999, reported favorably by the following
1-5 vote: Yeas 3, Nays 0; May 14, 1999, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to the regulation of the sale of certain items used in
1-9 funerals.
1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11 SECTION 1. Subsection C, Section 4, Chapter 251, Acts of the
1-12 53rd Legislature, Regular Session, 1953 (Article 4582b, Vernon's
1-13 Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
1-14 C. Each funeral establishment shall be required to have a
1-15 physical plant, equipment and personnel consisting of the
1-16 following:
1-17 1. Some facilities in which funeral services may be
1-18 conducted;
1-19 2. A physical plant which meets building standards and
1-20 fire safety standards of the state and of the municipality in which
1-21 the establishment is located;
1-22 3. Access to rolling stock consisting of at least one
1-23 motor hearse;
1-24 4. A preparation room containing facilities,
1-25 equipment, and supplies required by commission rule to ensure the
1-26 provision of adequate embalming services and other facilities
1-27 necessary to comply with the sanitary code of the state and the
1-28 municipality in which the room is located;
1-29 5. A display containing sufficient merchandise to
1-30 permit reasonable selection, including five (5) or more adult
1-31 caskets, two of which must be full-size, with [provided that] the
1-32 least expensive casket being a full-size casket [offered for sale
1-33 by a funeral establishment must be visibly] displayed [without
1-34 concealment] in the same general manner as the other full-sized
1-35 caskets [are] displayed;
1-36 6. Sufficient licensed personnel who will be available
1-37 to conduct the operation of the funeral establishment;
1-38 7. A physical plant located at a fixed place, and not
1-39 located on any tax-exempt property or cemetery; and
1-40 8. A physical plant which meets the health standards
1-41 or health ordinances of the state and of the municipality in which
1-42 the establishment is located.
1-43 It is expressly provided, however, that an establishment
1-44 which functions solely as a commercial embalmer, as that term is
1-45 defined in this Act, shall have a commercial embalmers
1-46 establishment license, but shall not be required to meet the
1-47 requirements of sub-sections 1 and 5 of this paragraph C.
1-48 SECTION 2. Section 4, Chapter 251, Acts of the 53rd
1-49 Legislature, Regular Session, 1953 (Article 4582b, Vernon's Texas
1-50 Civil Statutes), is amended by adding Subsection K to read as
1-51 follows:
1-52 K. A person, including a business entity, that is not a
1-53 funeral establishment for purposes of this Act but that sells
1-54 funeral merchandise or caskets to the public, including a casket
1-55 store or a cemetery, is subject to the provisions of this section
1-56 relating to the sale to the public of funeral merchandise or
1-57 caskets. The commission shall adopt rules as necessary to implement
1-58 this subsection.
1-59 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-60 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
1-61 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-62 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-63 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-64 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
2-1 * * * * *