(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.
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