Texas Funeral Service Commission

Judge David Ezra wrote in an order Wednesday that religious bias played a role in the former head of the Texas Funeral Service Commission's oversight of an investigation into the East Plano Islamic Center.

Records, interviews with ex-Texas Funeral Service Commission staff and a recorded phone call between the agency's former executive director and an Abbott advisor show the governor's office wielded the funeral regulator to target the East Plano Islamic Center for political and religious reasons.

Tips is out as TFSC's presiding officer as lawsuits, staff firings, and allegations of misconduct continue to surround the embattled agency.

A North Texas mosque alleges text messages containing anti-Islam media prove the state funeral agency's investigation into the mosque's funeral practices is motivated by religious discrimination.

Staff fired from the Texas Funeral Service Commission claim the head commissioner's advocacy for bills in the Texas Legislature presented an allegedly illegal conflict of interest. Legal and political experts say lobbying laws for regulatory agencies aren't so straightforward.

A Houston-area Army veteran's ongoing fight to obtain his funeral director license is yet another dispute that ex-Texas Funeral Service Commission staff point to as evidence of the agency's mismanagement.

The state's only funeral licensing specialist and an investigator are the latest employees to be fired from the state's embattled funeral licensing and regulatory agency.

It comes days after reporting by KERA News revealed TFSC Presiding Officer Kristin Tips texted an anti-Muslim graphic and links in May to the commission’s then-executive director Scott Bingaman.

Text messages obtained by KERA News show the presiding officer of the state's funeral regulation agency sharing an anti-Islam infographic and videos with the agency’s former executive director during the commission’s ongoing investigation into a North Texas mosque.

The Texas Funeral Service Commission on Wednesday nonsuited its lawsuit accusing two ex-staff attorneys of violating attorney-client privilege in the midst of an ongoing feud between fired staff and commission heads.

After interviews with KERA News about their firings from the Texas Funeral Service Commission, the regulatory agency is suing two ex-staff attorneys for allegedly violating their continuing obligation to keep details about the commission confidential.