(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.

Source Note: The provisions of this §201.14 adopted to be effective October 18, 2015, 40 TexReg 7065