89R4836 EAS-D

By: Kolkhorst S.B. No. 1973

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the regulation of human body acquisition services and authorized recipients.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Subtitle B, Title 8, Health and Safety Code, is amended by adding Chapter 692B to read as follows:

CHAPTER 692B. HUMAN BODY ACQUISITION SERVICES AND AUTHORIZED

RECIPIENTS

Sec. 692B.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:

(1) "Authorized recipient" means a person or facility located in this state that in accordance with state law and the rules adopted under this chapter obtains a whole body, body segment, part, or nontransplant anatomical part from a human body acquisition service or the commission.

(2) "Body" means the intact corporeal remains of a human.

(3) "Body segment" means a portion of a whole body detached for purposes of study, evaluation, education, or research and composed of contiguous mixed tissues with relationships altered only at the segment boundaries.

(4) "Commission" means the Texas Funeral Service Commission.

(5) "Department" means the Department of State Health Services.

(6) "Human body acquisition service" means a person or facility that solicits, retrieves, performs donor selection on, preserves, transports, allocates, distributes, acquires, processes, stores, or arranges storage for whole bodies, body segments, parts, or nontransplant anatomical parts, solely for education or research purposes.

(7) "Nontransplant anatomical part" means a part donated for a purpose other than transplantation.

(8) "Part" has the meaning assigned by Section 692A.002.

Sec. 692B.002. RULES. To protect the public health, safety, and welfare, the commission, in consultation with the department, shall adopt the rules necessary to implement and enforce this chapter.

Sec. 692B.003. INFORMED CONSENT REQUIRED. (a) A human body acquisition service may accept a donation of a whole body, body segment, part, or nontransplant anatomical part only if the service obtains documented informed consent to the donation from a person authorized to consent to the donation in accordance with Chapter 692A.

(b) The informed consent document for a donation governed by this chapter must:

(1) identify the authorized recipient of the donation;

(2) indicate whether the gift is of the whole body or is limited to specified identifiable body segments, parts, or nontransplant anatomical parts; and

(3) clearly specify the authorized uses of the donated body, segments, or parts.

(c) Except as provided by Section 692B.004, a human body acquisition service may only use or transfer a whole body, body segment, part, or nontransplant anatomical part for a purpose specified in the informed consent document.

Sec. 692B.004. PRESUMPTION FOR RECIPIENT OF UNSPECIFIED DONATION. (a) Unless specific direction is provided in an informed consent document for a donation of a whole body, body segment, part, or nontransplant anatomical part, the donated body, segment, or part is presumed to be donated to the commission or a person or facility included on the commission's list of authorized recipients under Section 692B.006(c).

(b) The commission or a person or facility included on the commission's list of authorized recipients under Section 692B.006(c) may transfer or authorize the transfer of the whole body, body segment, part, or nontransplant anatomical part to another person authorized to receive an anatomical gift under Chapter 691 or 692A for purposes of:

(1) medical or dental education;

(2) medical or dental research; or

(3) the advancement of medical or dental science, therapy, or transplantation.

Sec. 692B.005. RETRIEVAL AND ACQUISITION OF NONTRANSPLANT ANATOMICAL PARTS. A nontransplant anatomical part may be retrieved only on the premises of:

(1) a hospital licensed under Chapter 241; or

(2) a human body acquisition service.

Sec. 692B.006. RULES. (a) The commission by rule, and in consultation with the department, shall establish eligibility criteria for a person or facility to qualify as an authorized recipient to receive a whole body, body segment, part, or nontransplant anatomical part under this chapter.

(b) The rules adopted under Subsection (a) must prohibit the transfer of a whole body, body segment, part, or nontransplant anatomical part to:

(1) a person or facility located in a country for which coverage is prohibited under Section 1380.003, Insurance Code;

(2) a business entity, as defined by Section 572.002, Government Code; or

(3) a person or facility that charges an admission fee to allow members of the public to view a whole body, body segment, part, or nontransplant anatomical part.

(c) The commission shall publish and maintain a list of persons and facilities that satisfy the eligibility criteria under Subsection (a) on the commission's Internet website.

(d) The commission shall conduct a random audit of persons and facilities that receive a whole body, body segment, part, or nontransplant anatomical part under this chapter to ensure the religious or sincerely held beliefs of the deceased individual whose whole body, body segment, part, or nontransplant anatomical part the institution receives are honored during each step of the human body acquisition process, if those beliefs are known to the commission.

Sec. 692B.007. REPORT. On request, a human body acquisition service or authorized recipient shall submit to the commission reports on the service's or recipient's activities as may be required by this chapter or commission rule. The director of the human body acquisition service or authorized recipient shall sign each report.

Sec. 692B.008. ENFORCEMENT AND PENALTIES. (a) Each human body acquisition service and authorized recipient is subject to regulation, including investigations and enforcement, under Chapter 691.

(b) A person who violates this chapter is subject to the enforcement and penalties authorized under Chapter 691 as if the person violated or failed to perform a duty imposed under that chapter.

SECTION 2. Chapter 692B, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act, applies only to conduct that is subject to regulation, enforcement, and penalties under that chapter that occurs on or after the effective date of this Act. Conduct that occurs before that date is governed by the law in effect on the date the conduct occurred, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.