By:  Craddick                                         H.B. No. 1703
       73R6421 DLF-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the contracting authority of the Midland County
    1-3  Hospital District.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 6, Chapter 112, Acts of the 65th
    1-6  Legislature, Regular Session, 1977, is amended to read as follows:
    1-7        Sec. 6.  The board of directors shall manage, control, and
    1-8  administer the hospital system and all funds and resources of the
    1-9  district, but operating, depreciation, or building fund reserves
   1-10  may not be invested in any funds or securities other than those
   1-11  specified in Articles 836 and 837, Revised Civil Statutes of Texas,
   1-12  1925, as amended.  The board is given full authority to establish
   1-13  rules relating to seniority of employees of the district and may
   1-14  establish or administer a retirement program or elect to
   1-15  participate in any statewide retirement program in which the
   1-16  district is eligible to participate.   The district may give effect
   1-17  to previous years of service for those employees who have been
   1-18  continuously employed in the operation or management of the
   1-19  hospital facilities acquired from Midland Memorial Foundation on
   1-20  the creation of the district.  The district, through its board of
   1-21  directors, shall have the power and authority to sue and be sued
   1-22  and to promulgate rules governing the operation of the hospital,
   1-23  hospital system, its staff, and its employees.  The board of
   1-24  directors may appoint a qualified person as the administrator of
    2-1  the hospital district and may in its discretion appoint assistants
    2-2  to the administrator.  The administrator and assistant
    2-3  administrator, if any, serve at the will of the board and receive
    2-4  compensation fixed by the board.  The administrator shall on
    2-5  assuming his duties execute a bond payable to the hospital district
    2-6  in an amount set by the board of directors, not less than $10,000,
    2-7  conditioned on performance of the duties required of him and
    2-8  containing other conditions as the board may require.  The
    2-9  administrator shall supervise all the work and activities of the
   2-10  district and shall have general direction of the affairs of the
   2-11  district, subject to the limitations prescribed by the board.  The
   2-12  board of directors shall have authority to appoint and dismiss from
   2-13  the staff such doctors as it deems necessary for the efficient
   2-14  operation of the district and may provide for temporary appointment
   2-15  to the staff if warranted by circumstances.  The board may delegate
   2-16  to the administrator the authority to employ or contract with
   2-17  technicians, nurses, and other persons or employees of the district
   2-18  as deemed advisable by the administrator.  The board shall be
   2-19  authorized to contract with any other political subdivision or
   2-20  governmental agency whereby the district will provide investigatory
   2-21  or other services as to the medical, hospital, or welfare needs of
   2-22  the inhabitants of the district.  The board <and> shall be
   2-23  authorized to contract with any hospital or hospital authority,
   2-24  hospital district, emergency services district, county, <or>
   2-25  incorporated municipality, or other political subdivision of this
   2-26  state that is located outside its boundaries for the
   2-27  hospitalization and treatment of the sick, diseased, or injured
    3-1  persons of any such entity <county or municipality> and shall have
    3-2  the authority to contract with the state or its agencies and the
    3-3  federal government or its agencies for the hospital treatment of
    3-4  sick, diseased, or injured persons and for the training of doctors,
    3-5  nurses, and other health care disciplines.  The board of directors
    3-6  may exercise all of the foregoing powers of this section unless a
    3-7  management agreement is entered into with the board of directors,
    3-8  in accordance with Section 7 hereof, by which either all or a part
    3-9  of such powers shall be exercised pursuant to a management
   3-10  agreement.
   3-11        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   3-12  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   3-13  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   3-14  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   3-15  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   3-16  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   3-17  passage, and it is so enacted.