Texas’ funeral licensing and regulation agency has fired two more employees — one of whom echoed other ex-staffers who alleged illegal behavior and dysfunction within the state agency.
Laura McLaughlin-Smith, the Texas Funeral Service Commission’s senior licensing specialist turned staff services officer, confirmed to KERA News she was fired late Thursday, Aug. 21, with no explanation.
She said she believes it was because higher-ups suspected McLaughlin-Smith leaked information to other fired employees, with whom she’s remained friends, including former executive director Scott Bingaman.
“I really think that the current commissioners feel that staff was loyal to Scott,” McLaughlin-Smith said, “and so they're getting rid of everyone who was loyal to Scott, whether we were loyal to Scott or just doing our jobs and standing up for ethical things.”
Investigator Andrew Gonzales was fired the morning after McLaughlin-Smith’s departure, she said, because he was “vocal about pay and commission policies.” Gonzales could not be reached for comment.
McLaughlin-Smith and Gonzales’ firings mark at least the fifth and sixth firings at the funeral commission since June. Bingaman was the first to go.
Commissioners said at their last meeting they took issue with Bingaman’s poor leadership and communication skills and complaints they received from licensees. But Bingaman claims he was fired for speaking up about TFSC chair Kristin Tips posing a potentially illegal conflict of interest by allegedly lobbying for bills in the Texas Legislature that would benefit her own funeral company and using state resources to do so.
Shortly after the commission’s July meeting, staff attorneys Christopher Burnett and Sarah Sanders, and deputy director Laura Rhinehart were fired without the agency publicly explaining why. After Burnett and Sanders repeatedly spoke publicly about their firings, the commission sued them, alleging they were sharing information protected under attorney-client privilege.
The commission dropped that suit less than a week later with no explanation, but because it was nonsuited without prejudice, it could be filed again.
In a statement to KERA News, Bingaman called the firings "heartbreaking and appalling." He expressed gratitude to those who worked alongside him.
"These individuals demonstrated loyalty, professionalism, and courage in standing by what they believed to be right," Bingaman wrote. "A chilling message has been sent to others who may wish to raise concerns or stand with integrity."
McLaughlin-Smith’s firing leaves the already understaffed commission — which licenses death care professionals and regulates the industry — without a licensing specialist for the entire state, she said. The workload was already too much for her, she said, which slowed the licensing process down.
“It's not just one thing that's being affected and having a piece of paper hanging on the wall,” she said, “it's affecting everyone's business as a whole and getting other agencies involved.”
McLaughlin-Smith backed former staff’s allegations that Tips overstepped her authority in her testimonies in front of legislators and that Bingaman was fired in violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act during commissioners’ June 18 meeting.
The commission is now dealing with a backlog of licensing applications, unapproved renewals and background checks for licensees, and about 300 open complaints, McLaughlin-Smith said.
Both Sanders and McLaughlin-Smith describe the atmosphere among remaining staff over the past couple months as anxious.
“Nobody knows if they're going to get fired next, so it's very tense and everybody's just trying to keep their heads down and not say anything with leadership,” she said. “There is no trust in that leadership.”
KERA News reached out to the commission and individual commissioners for comment.
Meanwhile, commissioners met for their monthly meeting Thursday and spent two hours in closed session to discuss Bingaman’s lawsuit against the commission and the commission’s lawsuit against Burnett and Sanders. No action was taken, Tips said after the closed session, but the commission will meet more frequently over the next several months “to provide the timely guidance the agency needs to thrive going forward.”
Got a tip? Email Toluwani Osibamowo at tosibamowo@kera.org. You can follow Toluwani on X @tosibamowo.
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