MAINTENANCE OF GUARANTY FUND

(a) The commission by rule shall establish and the department shall maintain a fund to guarantee performance by sellers of prepaid funeral benefits contracts and funeral providers under those contracts of their obligations to the purchasers. (b) Except as provided by Subsection (c), for purposes of claims and assessments, the department shall maintain separate accounts within the fund for trust-funded contracts and insurance-funded contracts. (c) The advisory council under Section 154.355 may authorize borrowing between accounts to facilitate prompt and efficient resolution of claims against an account with an insufficient balance if: (1) the indebted account is obligated to pay interest at a rate that will reasonably compensate the lending account for lost earnings; (2) required or planned assessments for the benefit of the indebted account are pending and sufficient to repay the lending account; and (3) assessments collected for the benefit of the indebted account are transferred to the lending account until the borrowed amount plus interest has been repaid.