Texas's new operating rules for willed body programs and anatomical donation took effect yesterday, Sept. 6. The Texas Funeral Service Commission adopted the package on Aug. 14, 2026 (TFSC news page) and filed it with the Secretary of State on Aug. 17 (Texas Register). Publication followed in the Texas Register on Aug. 28, 2026, Vol. 51, No. 35. The amendments to 22 Texas Administrative Code Chapter 206 give the commission operating rules for the programs Senate Bill 2040 moved to the agency in 2023.
By the Numbers
Senate Bill 2040, 88th Legislature, Regular Session (2023), moved oversight of willed body programs to the Funeral Service Commission. Non-transplant anatomical donation organizations (NADOs), the groups that accept donated bodies for education and study, came under the same authority, as did anatomical facilities. The statute redesignated and amended Chapter 691 of the Health and Safety Code and ended the separate regulatory role of the Anatomical Board of the State of Texas, effective Sept. 1, 2023. The same Register issue repeals the defunct board's rules (25 TAC Chapters 471, 473, 475, 483, 485), with the commission as successor agency. Obitley previously traced the sector's profit structure and regulatory vacuum in body-donation-industry-who-profits.
Section 206.1(b) applies the chapter when the death-certificate disposition reads "Donation" or when a NADO is the donee (Texas Register, Aug. 28, 2026). Microscopic and laboratory material sits outside the rules, as does commercially acquired skeletal material. Eye banks and tissue banks that accept whole-body gifts must coordinate them through the commission.
Section 206.3, Chain of Custody, requires a form-backed record of who held a body or anatomical specimen at each step. Forms must be kept seven years and produced to the commission or a district or county attorney within two business days of a written request. Specimens derived from a donated body get their own cross-referenced forms. Electronic completion is permitted where it maintains an audit trail.
The adopted text delays enforcement of the form-completion requirement until the 30th day after the effective date. That day is Oct. 6, 2026, a date the TFSC news page states outright. The commission will publish the chain-of-custody form before then. The specimen unique identifier nomenclature and technical specifications for electronic completion will follow on the same timeline.
Section 206.12, Registration Application and Inspection Required, sets the licensing machinery. The commission has 90 days to decide an administratively complete initial application. Registrations run 12 months. A NADO must show AATB accreditation or qualify for conditional registration, with five business days' notice to the commission if accreditation is lost. Ownership changes and relocations require 30 days of advance notice.
Existing registrants get a transition. An entity already holding a commission registration or authorization needs no new initial application or inspection solely because of the adoption, per the adopted text. The section reaches them at first renewal after the effective date.
Elsewhere, §206.2 defines authorized activities. Sections 206.4 and 206.5 cover transport, importation and exportation of bodies, plus transfer of bodies or anatomical specimens. The forms for recording willed and donated bodies are set at §206.8. Section 206.14 covers disposition of the body and disposition of remains.
Section 206.7 (Educational Use of Anatomical Material; Prohibition of Public Display) carries the admission ban. Subsection (d) reads: "No person may sell admission, tickets, or access to the general public to observe the display, dissection, or examination of a body or anatomical specimen." Accredited museums and scientific exhibitions may display material only with documented consent and dignity protections (Texas Register, Aug. 28, 2026).
Violations carry administrative penalties under Health and Safety Code §691.022(c). The commission may suspend or revoke registrations under §691.034(c)-(d). The adopted text adds: "Each day a violation continues or occurs is a separate violation."
Gifts made before yesterday keep their force. Under §206.8(b), nothing in the chapter invalidates or requires re-execution of wills and donation instruments validly executed before the effective date.
The package was proposed July 10, 2026 (51 TexReg 4468-4495), and Interim Executive Director Maria Haynes signed the adoption (Texas Register).
The same Register issue carries two proposed additions. Proposed §206.16 would set a standard for bloodborne pathogen screening of anatomical donors. Proposed §206.18 would govern registration and disposition of commercially acquired plastinated human remains. Both remain proposals until adopted. The TFSC news page also lists rules in development on private couriers and commercially acquired skeletal material; the courier item appears only in the agency's statement, with no Register proposal.
The Sunset Advisory Commission has opened a limited-purpose review of the commission's administration of the functions the 2023 law assigned it (TFSC news page). Public comments are due Oct. 2, 2026. The staff report follows in November 2026, and comments filed before the report remain confidential. The Legislature convenes in January 2027.
*Sources: Texas Register, Vol. 51, No. 35 (Aug. 28, 2026), adopted and proposed rules, 22 Texas Administrative Code Chapter 206; Texas Funeral Service Commission news page, tfsc.texas.gov/news.*
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