By:  Rodriguez                                         H.B. No. 795
       73R3528 DLF-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the contracting authority and procedures of certain
    1-3  hospital districts.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 281.051, Health and Safety Code, is
    1-6  amended to read as follows:
    1-7        Sec. 281.051.  Contracting Authority.  (a)  The <With the
    1-8  approval of the commissioners court, the> board may, in performing
    1-9  its powers and duties under this chapter <Section 281.050>,
   1-10  contract <or cooperate> with another person<:>
   1-11              <(1)  the federal government;>
   1-12              <(2)  this state;>
   1-13              <(3)  a municipality;>
   1-14              <(4)  another hospital district; or>
   1-15              <(5)  a privately owned or operated hospital located in
   1-16  the district>.
   1-17        (b)  The board shall encourage and promote participation by
   1-18  all sectors of the business community, including small businesses
   1-19  and businesses owned by members of a minority or by women, in the
   1-20  process by which the district enters into contracts.  The board
   1-21  shall develop a plan for the district to identify and remove
   1-22  barriers that do not have a definite or objective relationship to
   1-23  quality or competence and that unfairly discriminate against small
   1-24  businesses and businesses owned by members of a minority or by
    2-1  women.  These barriers may include contracting procedures and
    2-2  contract specifications or conditions <The commissioners court and
    2-3  the board must determine that a contract under Subsection (a) is:>
    2-4              <(1)  expedient and advantageous to the district under
    2-5  existing circumstances;>
    2-6              <(2)  for fair and reasonable compensation; and>
    2-7              <(3)  on other terms, including duration, as considered
    2-8  necessary to assist the district in performing its duty to provide
    2-9  medical and hospital care to needy county inhabitants.>
   2-10        <(c)  With the approval of the commissioners court, the board
   2-11  may contract with:>
   2-12              <(1)  a county for care and treatment of the county's
   2-13  sick, diseased, or injured persons; and>
   2-14              <(2)  this state or the federal government for care and
   2-15  treatment of sick, diseased, or injured persons for whom the state
   2-16  or federal government is responsible>.
   2-17        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-18  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-19  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-20  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-21  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-22  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-23  passage, and it is so enacted.