Summary of Report 97-071

Report Number 97-071

July 1997

Overall Conclusion

Significant weaknesses in the areas of licensing, enforcement, and resource management prevent the Texas Funeral Service Commission (Commission) from achieving its mission of adequately regulating licensees. These weaknesses are the result of inadequate agency management and lack of oversight by the Commissioners.

Key Facts and Findings

Our follow-up review identified the following additional issues:

- The Commission does not monitor or use repeat violation information to determine whether violators continue to commit the same offenses. Consequently, more severe penalties are not being assessed on repeat violators as required by the Mortuary Law.

- The Commission is not in compliance with the Mortuary Law with regard to reporting Commissioners' excessive absences from Commission meetings to the Office of the Governor. As a result of excessive absences by public members of the Commission, public interest may not be protected.

- The Commission's state examinations for embalmers and funeral directors have not been changed since 1995. As a result, examinees retaking the exam already know its contents.

The Commission had not implemented 7 of the previous 26 recommendations. Specifically, we noted the following:

- The Commission needs to implement controls over licensing. The Commission has not developed procedures to review the outcome of previous inspections and investigations before renewing licenses. In addition, the Commission has not collected 78 percent (43 of 55) of the assessed penalties, which totals $110,350.

- Controls over financial management need to be improved. The Commission is not in compliance with the three-day deposit rule. Additionally, the Commission is not reconciling cash receipts to licenses issued. Cash receipts for fiscal year 1996 totaled $644,152.

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