| (a) Occupations Code §651.159 mandates the Texas
Department of Banking, the Texas Funeral Service Commission, and the
Texas Department of Insurance to adopt by rule a Joint Memorandum
of Understanding (JMOU) relating to prepaid funeral services and transactions
that:
(1) outlines the responsibilities of each agency in
regulating these services and transactions;
(2) establishes procedures to be used by each agency
in referring complaints to one of the other agencies;
(3) establishes procedures to be used by each agency
in investigating complaints;
(4) establishes procedures to be used by each agency
in notifying the other agencies of a complaint or of the investigation
of a complaint;
(5) describes actions the agencies regard as deceptive
trade practices;
(6) specifies the information the agencies provide
consumers and when that information is to be provided; and
(7) sets the administrative penalties each agency imposes
for violation.
(b) Any revisions to the JMOU will be adopted by rule
by each agency.
(c) The JMOU entered into by the three agencies is
found at §201.15 of this title.
(d) Nothing in this rule or in §§201.15 -
201.16 of this title shall be construed as prohibiting any agency
from taking independent disciplinary action or assessing administrative
penalties under their own statute or rules. The JMOU does not limit
the authority of any agency, acting in its own capacity under state
or federal law, to investigate complaints that fall within that agency's
statutory jurisdiction.
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