SECTION 203.45. Unprofessional Conduct

(a) The Commission may, in its discretion, refuse to issue or renew a license or may fine, revoke, or suspend any license granted by the Commission if the Commission finds that the applicant or licensee has engaged in unprofessional conduct as defined in this section.

(b) For the purpose of this section, unprofessional conduct shall include but not be limited to:

(1) providing funeral goods and services or performing acts of embalming in violation of Occupations Code, Chapter 651, the Rules of the Commission or applicable health and vital statistics laws and rules;

(2) refusing or failing to keep, maintain or furnish any record or information required by law or rule, including a failure to timely submit any documentation requested during the course of a Commission investigation;

(3) operating the licensed entity in an unsanitary manner;

(4) failing to practice funeral directing or embalming in a manner consistent with the public health or welfare;

(5) obstructing a Commission employee in the lawful performance of such employee's duties of enforcing Occupations Code, Chapter 651, or the Rules of the Commission;

(6) copying, retaining, repeating, or transmitting in any manner the questions contained in any examination administered by the Commission;

(7) physically abusing or threatening to physically abuse a Commission employee during the performance of his lawful duties;

(8) conduct which is willful, flagrant, or shameless or which shows a moral indifference to the standards of the community;

(9) in the practice of funeral directing or embalming, engaging in:

(A) fraud, which means an intentional perversion of truth for the purpose of inducing another in reliance upon it to part with some valuable thing belonging to him, or to surrender a legal right, or to issue a license; a false representation of a matter of fact, whether by words or conduct, by false or misleading allegations, or by concealment of that which should have been disclosed, which deceives or is intended to deceive another;

(B) deceit, which means the assertion, as a fact, of that which is not true by any means whatsoever to deceive or defraud another;

(C) misrepresentation, which means a manifestation by words or other conduct which is a false representation of a matter of fact;

(10) communicating directly or indirectly with a Commissioner during the pendency of a complaint in connection with an issue of fact or law, except upon notice and opportunity for each party to participate;

(11) attempting to influence a complainant or witness in any complaint case to change the nature of the complaint, or withdraw the complaint by means of coercion, harassment, bribery, or by force, or threat of force;

(12) retaliating or threatening to retaliate against a complainant who has filed a complaint with the Commission in good faith;

(13) failing to make payment to a sub-contractor for consumer-related services performed by the sub-contractor pursuant to an agreement with the licensee; or

(14) violating any Texas law or administrative rules governing the transportation, storage, refrigeration, interment, cremation, or disinterment of the dead.

Source Note: The provisions of this §203.45 adopted to be effective October 18, 2015, 40 TexReg 7070; amended to be effective October 3, 2019, 44 TexReg 5625