By: Coleman H.B. No. 4140

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to issues affecting counties and certain other governmental entities and residents.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 264, Health and Safety Code, is amended by adding Section 264.004 to read as follows:

Sec. 264.004. DISSOLUTION. (a) The commissioners court of a county by order may dissolve an authority created by the commissioners court if the commissioners court and the authority provide for the sale or transfer of the authority's assets and liabilities to the county.

(b) The dissolution of an authority and the sale or transfer of the authority's assets and liabilities may not:

(1) violate a trust indenture or bond resolution relating to the outstanding bonds of the authority; or

(2) diminish or impair the rights of the holders of outstanding bonds, warrants, or other obligations of the authority.

(c) An order dissolving an authority takes effect on the 31st day after the date the commissioners court adopts the order.

(d) All records of the authority remaining when the authority is dissolved shall be transferred to the county clerk of the county in which the authority is located.

SECTION 2. Subtitle D, Title 4, Health and Safety Code, is amended by adding Chapter 291A to read as follows:

CHAPTER 291A. COUNTY HEALTH CARE PROVIDER PARTICIPATION PROGRAM IN

CERTAIN COUNTIES BORDERING OR INCLUDING THE SAM RAYBURN RESERVOIR

SUBCHAPTER A. GENERAL PROVISIONS

Sec. 291A.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:

(1) "Institutional health care provider" means a nonpublic hospital that provides inpatient hospital services.

(2) "Paying hospital" means an institutional health care provider required to make a mandatory payment under this chapter.

(3) "Program" means the county health care provider participation program authorized by this chapter.

Sec. 291A.002. APPLICABILITY. This chapter applies only to a county that:

(1) is not served by a hospital district or a public hospital;

(2) has a population of more than 75,000; and

(3) borders or includes a portion of the Sam Rayburn Reservoir.

Sec. 291A.003. COUNTY HEALTH CARE PROVIDER PARTICIPATION PROGRAM; PARTICIPATION IN PROGRAM. (a) A county health care provider participation program authorizes a county to collect a mandatory payment from each institutional health care provider located in the county to be deposited in a local provider participation fund established by the county. Money in the fund may be used by the county to fund certain intergovernmental transfers and indigent care programs as provided by this chapter.

(b) The commissioners court of a county may adopt an order authorizing a county to participate in the program, subject to the limitations provided by this chapter.

SUBCHAPTER B. POWERS AND DUTIES OF COMMISSIONERS COURT

Sec. 291A.051. LIMITATION ON AUTHORITY TO REQUIRE MANDATORY PAYMENT. The commissioners court of a county may require a mandatory payment authorized under this chapter by an institutional health care provider in the county only in the manner provided by this chapter.

Sec. 291A.052. MAJORITY VOTE REQUIRED. The commissioners court of a county may not authorize the county to collect a mandatory payment authorized under this chapter without an affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the commissioners court.

Sec. 291A.053. RULES AND PROCEDURES. After the commissioners court of a county has voted to require a mandatory payment authorized under this chapter, the commissioners court may adopt rules relating to the administration of the mandatory payment.

Sec. 291A.054. INSTITUTIONAL HEALTH CARE PROVIDER REPORTING; INSPECTION OF RECORDS. (a) The commissioners court of a county that collects a mandatory payment authorized under this chapter shall require each institutional health care provider to submit to the county a copy of any financial and utilization data required by and reported to the Department of State Health Services under Sections 311.032 and 311.033 and any rules adopted by the executive commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission to implement those sections.

(b) The commissioners court of a county that collects a mandatory payment authorized under this chapter may inspect the records of an institutional health care provider to the extent necessary to ensure compliance with the requirements of Subsection (a).

SUBCHAPTER C. GENERAL FINANCIAL PROVISIONS

Sec. 291A.101. HEARING. (a) Each year, the commissioners court of a county that collects a mandatory payment authorized under this chapter shall hold a public hearing on the amounts of any mandatory payments that the commissioners court intends to require during the year and how the revenue derived from those payments is to be spent.

(b) Not later than the 10th day before the date of the hearing required under Subsection (a), the commissioners court of the county shall publish notice of the hearing in a newspaper of general circulation in the county.

(c) A representative of a paying hospital is entitled to appear at the time and place designated in the public notice and to be heard regarding any matter related to the mandatory payments authorized under this chapter.

Sec. 291A.102. DEPOSITORY. (a) The commissioners court of each county that collects a mandatory payment authorized under this chapter by resolution shall designate one or more banks located in the county as the depository for mandatory payments received by the county. A bank designated as a depository serves for two years or until a successor is designated.

(b) All income received by a county under this chapter, including the revenue from mandatory payments remaining after discounts and fees for assessing and collecting the payments are deducted, shall be deposited with the county depository in the county's local provider participation fund and may be withdrawn only as provided by this chapter.

(c) All funds under this chapter shall be secured in the manner provided for securing county funds.

Sec. 291A.103. LOCAL PROVIDER PARTICIPATION FUND; AUTHORIZED USES OF MONEY. (a) Each county that collects a mandatory payment authorized under this chapter shall create a local provider participation fund.

(b) The local provider participation fund of a county consists of:

(1) all revenue received by the county attributable to mandatory payments authorized under this chapter, including any penalties and interest attributable to delinquent payments;

(2) money received from the Health and Human Services Commission as a refund of an intergovernmental transfer from the county to the state for the purpose of providing the nonfederal share of Medicaid supplemental payment program payments, provided that the intergovernmental transfer does not receive a federal matching payment; and

(3) the earnings of the fund.

(c) Money deposited to the local provider participation fund may be used only to:

(1) fund intergovernmental transfers from the county to the state to provide the nonfederal share of a Medicaid supplemental payment program authorized under the state Medicaid plan, including through the Medicaid managed care program, under the Texas Healthcare Transformation and Quality Improvement Program waiver issued under Section 1115 of the federal Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Section 1315), or under a successor waiver program authorizing similar Medicaid supplemental payment programs;

(2) subsidize indigent programs;

(3) pay the administrative expenses of the county solely for activities under this chapter;

(4) refund a portion of a mandatory payment collected in error from a paying hospital; and

(5) refund to paying hospitals the proportionate share of money received by the county from the Health and Human Services Commission that is not used to fund the nonfederal share of Medicaid supplemental payment program payments.

(d) Money in the local provider participation fund may not be commingled with other county funds.

(e) An intergovernmental transfer of funds described by Subsection (c)(1) and any funds received by the county as a result of an intergovernmental transfer described by that subsection may not be used by the county or any other entity to expand Medicaid eligibility under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Pub. L. No. 111-148) as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (Pub. L. No. 111-152).

SUBCHAPTER D. MANDATORY PAYMENTS

Sec. 291A.151. MANDATORY PAYMENTS BASED ON PAYING HOSPITAL NET PATIENT REVENUE. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (e), the commissioners court of a county that collects a mandatory payment authorized under this chapter may require an annual mandatory payment to be assessed on the net patient revenue of each institutional health care provider located in the county. The commissioners court may provide for the mandatory payment to be assessed quarterly. In the first year in which the mandatory payment is required, the mandatory payment is assessed on the net patient revenue of an institutional health care provider as determined by the data reported to the Department of State Health Services under Sections 311.032 and 311.033 in the fiscal year ending in 2015 or, if the institutional health care provider did not report any data under those sections in that fiscal year, as determined by the institutional health care provider's Medicare cost report submitted for the 2015 fiscal year or for the closest subsequent fiscal year for which the provider submitted the Medicare cost report. The county shall update the amount of the mandatory payment on an annual basis.

(b) The amount of a mandatory payment authorized under this chapter must be uniformly proportionate with the amount of net patient revenue generated by each paying hospital in the county. A mandatory payment authorized under this chapter may not hold harmless any institutional health care provider, as required under 42 U.S.C. Section 1396b(w).

(c) The commissioners court of a county that collects a mandatory payment authorized under this chapter shall set the amount of the mandatory payment. The amount of the mandatory payment required of each paying hospital may not exceed an amount that, when added to the amount of the mandatory payments required from all other paying hospitals in the county, equals an amount of revenue that exceeds six percent of the aggregate net patient revenue of all paying hospitals in the county.

(d) Subject to the maximum amount prescribed by Subsection (c), the commissioners court of a county that collects a mandatory payment authorized under this chapter shall set the mandatory payments in amounts that in the aggregate will generate sufficient revenue to cover the administrative expenses of the county for activities under this chapter, to fund the nonfederal share of a Medicaid supplemental payment program as described by Section 291A.103(c)(1), and to pay for indigent programs, except that the amount of revenue from mandatory payments used for administrative expenses of the county for activities under this chapter in a year may not exceed the lesser of four percent of the total revenue generated from the mandatory payment or $20,000.

(e) A paying hospital may not add a mandatory payment required under this section as a surcharge to a patient.

Sec. 291A.152. ASSESSMENT AND COLLECTION OF MANDATORY PAYMENTS. The county may collect or contract for the assessment and collection of mandatory payments authorized under this chapter.

Sec. 291A.153. INTEREST, PENALTIES, AND DISCOUNTS. Interest, penalties, and discounts on mandatory payments required under this chapter are governed by the law applicable to county ad valorem taxes.

Sec. 291A.154. PURPOSE; CORRECTION OF INVALID PROVISION OR PROCEDURE. (a) The purpose of this chapter is to generate revenue by collecting from institutional health care providers a mandatory payment to be used to provide the nonfederal share of a Medicaid supplemental payment program.

(b) To the extent any provision or procedure under this chapter causes a mandatory payment authorized under this chapter to be ineligible for federal matching funds, the county may provide by rule for an alternative provision or procedure that conforms to the requirements of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

SECTION 3. Subchapter C, Chapter 775, Health and Safety Code, is amended by adding Section 775.0341 to read as follows:

Sec. 775.0341. APPOINTMENT OF BOARD IN CERTAIN DISTRICTS LOCATED IN MORE THAN ONE COUNTY. (a) This section applies only to a district that was authorized to have a board of emergency services commissioners appointed under former Section 776.0345 and that is located:

(1) partly in a county with a population of less than 22,000; and

(2) partly in a county with a population of more than 54,000.

(b) A five-member board of emergency services commissioners appointed under this section serves as the district's governing body. A commissioner serves a two-year term.

(c) The commissioners court of the smallest county in which the district is located shall appoint two commissioners to the board. The commissioners court of the largest county in which the district is located shall appoint three commissioners to the board.

(d) To be eligible for appointment as an emergency services commissioner under this section, a person must be at least 18 years of age and reside in the district. Two commissioners must reside in the smallest county in which the district is located, and three commissioners must reside in the largest county in which the district is located.

(e) On January 1 of each year, a commissioners court shall appoint a successor for each emergency services commissioner appointed by that commissioners court whose term has expired.

(f) The appropriate commissioners court shall fill a vacancy on the board for the remainder of the unexpired term.

SECTION 4. Section 775.035, Health and Safety Code, is amended by adding Subsection (j) to read as follows:

(j) This section does not apply to a district described by Section 775.0341.

SECTION 5. Section 775.036, Health and Safety Code, is amended by adding Subsection (a-1) to read as follows:

(a-1) Notwithstanding Subsection (a)(1), the board for a district located wholly in a county with a population of 75,000 or less may by resolution determine to hold the board's regular meetings less frequently than prescribed by that subsection. The resolution must require the board to meet either quarterly or every other month. The board shall meet as required by the resolution.

SECTION 6. Subchapter Z, Chapter 271, Local Government Code, is amended by adding Section 271.909 to read as follows:

Sec. 271.909. PURCHASES: DEVICES THAT UTILIZE ELECTRONIC CAPTURE. As it relates to purchases by local governmental entities and notwithstanding any provision under Texas law, devices that utilize electronic capture to produce a physical record shall be considered interchangeable with devices that utilize electronic capture to produce an electronic record.

SECTION 7. Section 81.001(b), Local Government Code, is amended to read as follows:

(b) If present, the county judge is the presiding officer of the commissioners court. This subsection does not apply to a meeting held under Section 551.127, Government Code, if the county judge is not located at the physical space made available to the public for the meeting.

SECTION 8. (a) All governmental acts and proceedings of an emergency services district to which former Section 776.0345, Health and Safety Code, applied before that section was repealed and that relate to the selection of emergency services commissioners of the district and that were taken between January 1, 2012, and the effective date of this Act are validated, ratified, and confirmed in all respects as if they had been taken as authorized by law.

(b) This section does not apply to any matter that on the effective date of this Act:

(1) is involved in litigation if the litigation ultimately results in the matter being held invalid by a final court judgment; or

(2) has been held invalid by a final court judgment.

SECTION 9. Section 250.006(b), Local Government Code, is repealed.

SECTION 10. If before implementing any provision of Chapter 291A, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act, a state agency determines that a waiver or authorization from a federal agency is necessary for implementation of that provision, the agency affected by the provision shall request the waiver or authorization and may delay implementing that provision until the waiver or authorization is granted.

SECTION 11. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2021.