(a) Fees for bodies received directly or by transfer. An assessment, the amount of which shall be set from time to time by the board, shall be levied on each institution, organization, or individual for each body received either directly or by transfer. This assessment shall be remitted to the secretary-treasurer.
  (1) A body is received directly when it is transported from the place of death to the institution entitled to possession of the body. The assessment fee shall be paid by the receiving institution.
  (2) A body is received by transfer when it is received from an institution that was required to pay an assessment fee or transfer fee when it received the body. Transfer fees shall be paid by the institution that receives the transferred body, except that no fee is payable when an institution takes temporary custody of a body at the request of an institution entitled to possession of the body. For example, if institution A takes temporary custody of a body at the request of institution B, institution A is not required to pay a transfer fee.
  (3) An assessment fee is payable by the institution entitled to possession of the body when it receives the body that had been in the temporary custody of the other institution, if no assessment fee has been previously paid. For example, in the example given in (2), institution B is required to pay an assessment fee when it receives the body that had been in the temporary custody of institution A.
(b) Penalty for failure to remit fees. The authority to receive and hold bodies may be revoked upon failure to transmit such fees. Revocation is automatic if the institution fails to pay the fees under protest after the determination by the secretary-treasurer that no fee has been received within 30 days after final warning to the delinquent organization, institution, or individual. Fees paid under protest may be contested by a hearing (see §483.1 of this title (relating to Hearing Procedures)).
(c) Use of fees collected. Fees received by the secretary-treasurer shall be used to meet the actual expenses of the board as allowed by law and authorized by the board or the executive committee.

Source Note: The provisions of this §477.6 adopted to be effective May 14, 1979, 4 TexReg 1532; amended to be effective July 22, 1981, 6 TexReg 2326; amended to be effective August 11, 1986, 11 TexReg 3405; amended to be effective January 7, 2001, 26 TexReg 200; amended to be effective March 29, 2004, 29 TexReg 3230