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Legislative Wins

If you aren’t at the table, you’re probably on the menu.

Funeral professionals across the state are well aware of the fact that the most significant decisions affecting their ability to serve families, how they run their businesses and even their bottom line are made by the Texas Legislature. It certainly can be a challenge to keep up with the ever-changing political landscape, especially when your focus as a funeral service professional is to ensure your families receive the care and attention they deserve.

You can feel confident knowing that TFDA’s Advocacy team is always hard at work for you in Austin, building relationships with members of the Texas Legislature, educating them about funeral directors' positions on the issues that matter and enabling them to make a positive difference on issues affecting funeral service and your business.

86th Legislative Session 

TFDA Legislative Wins -- Become law Sept. 1, 2019

1.      Texas Funeral Service Commission Sunset Bill

a.      Continues TFSC for 12 years

b.      Streamlines and standardizes enforcement processes

c.      Modernizes licensure requirements

2.      State Employee Death Benefit Assignments (applies to benefits paid on or after January 1, 2020)

a.      Authorizes a beneficiary to whom a member or retiree death benefit is payable by ERS to assign part or all of the benefit to services provided in connection with the member’s or retiree’s death

3.      Mandated funeral home to funeral home transfer financial accountability

a.      Requires a funeral establishment that receives a dead human body transferred from another funeral establishment to include in the purchase agreement any amounts, itemized by funeral service, owed by the customer to the transferring funeral establishment. Requires the recipient funeral establishment to at the time of receipt of the body remit to the transferring funeral establishment any amounts incurred by the transferring funeral establishment.

4.      Defeated burdensome industry-targeted tax increases

 

 Full bill list

 

INVEST IN TFDA PAC

Political Action Committees (PACs) are a central part of our country’s political process. TFDA PAC determines which candidates and legislators are advocates for the Funeral Profession and works to support their campaigns. Since our decisions are made based on their support of our industry, it is a completely non-partisan effort. Members may always choose to support other candidates personally through voting and financial contributions and that is perfectly fine!

While not as large as some other PACs, TFDA PAC is positioned to make a difference in races it sees as important and to support the candidates that support us. These contributions help ensure our voice is heard on important industry issues that directly or indirectly affect our members.

You can invest in TFDA PAC in several different ways:

  1. Write a personal (non-corporate company) check to TFDA PAC and mail to the TFDA office.
  2. Print the bank draft form and allow TFDA draft a regular investment from your personal checking account.