The Texas Funeral Service Commission will meet Oct. 8 to put six rules for the businesses that handle donated human bodies out for public comment — while state reviewers decide whether it is handling that work well.
Texas gave the job to its funeral regulators in 2023, when lawmakers abolished the old Anatomical Board of the State of Texas and moved its duties here; the rules themselves did not transfer until 2025. Commissioners adopted nine anatomical rules in August, and those are still bedding in. One requires a registrant to log every transfer of custody of a body or specimen on a commission form carrying a unique identifier. It took effect Sept. 6, but the commission said it would not enforce the form-filling part before Oct. 6 — and as of early October the form itself had not been published.
On Oct. 8 commissioners vote on whether to publish four new rules for comment: on enforcement, on working with organ procurement groups, eye banks and tissue banks, on standards for anatomical facilities, and on the private couriers who carry remains between them. Two amendments go out alongside them, and an older facility-standards rule is repealed to make room. Two more written earlier — screening donors for bloodborne pathogens, and registering commercially bought plastinated human remains — come up for final adoption after a comment period that closed Sept. 27.
The Sunset Advisory Commission is reviewing the agency at the same time. It is a limited review, and the agency’s own notice says the recommendations will be confined to willed body programs, non-transplant anatomical donation organizations and anatomical facilities. That notice also says Sunset staff asked for public comment by Oct. 2 and will publish a report in November, with the Legislature taking up whatever follows in January. Staff will separately report on the Texas Registry for Anatomical Compliance and Exchange, the system the agency says will eventually carry anatomical registration and which it describes as still being built.
Also up: a budget and appropriations request, quarterly staff reports, one criminal-history case the agenda identifies only as “Person A,” and a report on a State Auditor’s Office audit the agency has posted no description of. Commissioners will go behind closed doors on two lawsuits. In one, brought by the East Plano Islamic Center, a federal judge in Austin declined in June to dismiss the mosque’s claims, according to news accounts of the order; that ruling tested whether the allegations would state a case if true and settled nothing on the merits. In the other, former executive director Scott Bingaman alleges the commission discussed his firing in closed session after he asked for an open one. No court has ruled.
Meeting at a glance
- When
- 9:00 AM, Thursday, October 8, 2026. TRD 2026005835 was filed September 30 at 11:48 p.m.
- Where
- Stephen F. Austin State Office Building, Room 170, 1700 Congress Ave., Austin — not 1801 Congress, where the commission has its offices and met in May.
- Governing body & chair
- Texas Funeral Service Commission — seven members appointed by the governor to staggered six-year terms: two licensed funeral directors and embalmers, one crematory owner or operator, and four public members. Presiding Officer Eric Opiela; Assistant Presiding Officer Jonathan Scepanski. Maria Haynes is named on the agenda as executive director, and her appointment is itself an item.
- Format
- Joint meeting with the State Anatomical Advisory Committee, which adjourns partway through; the commission then takes up litigation, personnel and budget items. Public comment is capped at two minutes a speaker. It may close any item under the Open Meetings Act.
- Live video
- Zoom, with the link and passcode in the notice. The presiding member sits in Room 170. An audio-video recording is available on request after October 15 at (512) 936-2474. Past meetings are on the agency’s YouTube channel; minutes are not posted online and must be requested from the executive director.
- Full agenda
- Secretary of State Open Meeting Viewer · agency agenda (PDF)
Commission members
- Eric Opiela — presiding officer; Austin; attorney; term to 2031.
- Jonathan Scepanski — assistant presiding officer; McAllen; health care executive; 2031.
- Larry Allen — Mesquite; retired Mesquite police lieutenant; term to 2027.
- Timothy Brown — Mission; funeral director and embalmer; term to 2027.
- Salvador Perches Jr. — El Paso; Perches Funeral Group; certified crematory operator; 2031.
- Ivan Andarza — Austin; attorney, Andarza Law Office; term to 2029.
- Jay Carnes — Texas City; owner, Carnes Funeral Home; term to 2029.
Names and occupations are from the commission’s commissioners page, checked October 2, which publishes no term dates and does not label members as industry or public, so no such label is given here. Term expirations come from the Texas Register appointment notices of February 27, 2026 and April 24, 2026, and, for Allen and Brown, from an undated governor’s release. Opiela was designated presiding officer effective April 1, 2026, replacing Kristin Tips. Brown’s city is given as Mission by the agency and McAllen by the governor’s office; Scepanski’s city comes from the governor’s release. The seat split is set by Occupations Code §651.051, the six-year staggered terms by §651.054, and the presiding officer designation by §651.057.