By Counts H.B. No. 2641
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the board of directors and powers and duties of the
1-3 Lynn County Hospital District.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 4(a), Chapter 66, Acts of the 60th
1-6 Legislature, Regular Session, 1967 is amended to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 4. <(a) On the effective date of this Act, the
1-8 Commissioners Court of Lynn County shall appoint seven persons to
1-9 serve as the temporary or provisional directors of the district.
1-10 Each of these directors shall subscribe to the constitutional oath
1-11 of office within 60 days of the effective date of this Act. Should
1-12 any of the appointed directors refuse to act or for any reason fail
1-13 to qualify as herein required, the Commissioners Court of Lynn
1-14 County shall fill the vacancy. The terms of office of the persons
1-15 appointed as directors to the second, fourth, and sixth places
1-16 shall expire on the first Saturday in April of the year following
1-17 the election for the creation of the district. The terms of the
1-18 persons appointed as directors to the first, third, fifth, and
1-19 seventh places shall expire on the first Saturday in April of the
1-20 second year following the election for the creation of the
1-21 district. Successors> Seven directors shall be elected by a vote
1-22 of the qualified voters of the entire district for <two> three-year
1-23 terms Directors shall be elected at an election to be held on the
2-1 first Saturday in May of each year. The terms of office for the
2-2 successors to the directors currently serving in places two, four,
2-3 and six shall begin on the first Saturday in May, 1994 and shall
2-4 expire on the first Saturday in May, 1997. The terms of office for
2-5 the successors to the directors currently serving in places three
2-6 and five shall begin on the first Saturday of May, 1995 and shall
2-7 expire on the first Saturday in May, 1998. The terms of office for
2-8 the successors to the directors serving in places one and seven
2-9 shall begin on the first Saturday in May, 1995 and shall expire on
2-10 the first Saturday in May, 1999. Thereafter, all successive terms
2-11 shall be of three years duration.
2-12 SECTION 2. Section 4(b), Chapter 66, Acts of the 60th
2-13 Legislature, Regular Session, 1967, is amended to read as follows:
2-14 (b) <The directors appointed by the commissioners court and
2-15 their successors in office shall hold office as provisional or
2-16 temporary directors until the creation of the district has been
2-17 approved at an election as provided by this Act. At such time as
2-18 the creation of the district is approved and the returns of the
2-19 election officially canvassed, the persons acting as provisional or
2-20 temporary directors shall become permanent directors whose terms
2-21 shall expire as provided in this Act.> Each <permanent> director
2-22 <or> and his successor in office shall qualify by executing the
2-23 constitutional oath of office, and the <permanent> directors,
2-24 acting as a board, shall have and exercise the powers conferred on
2-25 the board by this Act.
3-1 SECTION 3. Section 10, Chapter 66, Acts of the 60th
3-2 Legislature, Regular Session, 1967, is amended to read as follows:
3-3 Sec. 10. The board of directors of the district shall have
3-4 the power to prescribe the method and manner of making purchases
3-5 and expenditures by and for the hospital district in any manner
3-6 consistent with Title 8, subtitle c of the Texas Local Government
3-7 Code, and shall be authorized to prescribe all accounting and
3-8 control procedures. <All purchases involving the expenditure of
3-9 more than $2,000 may be made only after advertising in the manner
3-10 provided by Chapter 163, Acts of the 42nd Legislature, Regular
3-11 Session, 1931, as amended (Article 2368a, Vernon's Texas Civil
3-12 Statutes).> The district may acquire equipment for use in its
3-13 hospital system and mortgage or pledge the property so acquired as
3-14 security for the payment of the purchase price, but any contract
3-15 shall provide for the entire obligation of the district to be
3-16 retired within five years from the date of the contract. Except as
3-17 permitted in the preceding sentence and as permitted by Sections 7
3-18 and 8, the district may incur no obligation payable from any
3-19 revenues of the district, taxes or otherwise, except those on hand
3-20 or to be on hand within the then current fiscal year of the
3-21 district or the fiscal year immediately following.
3-22 SECTION 4. Chapter 66, Acts of the 60th Legislature, Regular
3-23 Session, 1967, is amended by adding Sections 5A and 7A to read as
3-24 follows:
3-25 Sec. 5A. The board may provide emergency services, home
4-1 health care services, long-term health care services, or any other
4-2 health care services the board determines are necessary to meet the
4-3 needs of the district.
4-4 (h) The board may spend district funds to:
4-5 (1) recruit physicians, nurses, or other trained
4-6 medical personnel and, in connection with recruitment, may pay a
4-7 person's tuition or other education-related costs or expenses if
4-8 the person contractually agrees to become an employee of the
4-9 district after graduation from a medical or nursing school or an
4-10 institution of higher education; or
4-11 (2) provide for continuing education and retraining of
4-12 district employees.
4-13 Sec. 7A. BORROWING MONEY IN EMERGENCIES. (a) If the board
4-14 declares that funds are not available to meet lawfully authorized
4-15 obligations of the district and that an emergency exists, the board
4-16 may borrow money at a rate not to exceed the maximum annual
4-17 percentage rate allowed by law for district obligations at the time
4-18 the loan is made.
4-19 (b) To secure a loan, the board may pledge:
4-20 (1) revenues of the district that are not pledged to
4-21 pay bonded indebtedness of the district;
4-22 (2) district taxes to be levied by the district in the
4-23 next 12-month period that are not pledged to pay the principal of
4-24 or interest on district bonds; or
4-25 (3) district bonds that have been authorized but not
5-1 sold.
5-2 (c) A loan for which taxes or bonds are pledged must mature
5-3 not later than the anniversary of the date on which the loan is
5-4 made. A loan for which district revenues are pledged must mature
5-5 not later than the fifth anniversary of the date on which the loan
5-6 is made.
5-7 (d) The board may not spend money obtained from a loan under
5-8 this section for any purpose other than the purpose for which the
5-9 board declared an emergency and, if taxes or bonds are pledged to
5-10 pay the loan, for any purpose other than the purpose for which the
5-11 pledged taxes were levied or the pledged bonds were authorized.
5-12 SECTION 5. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
5-13 (b) The first election for directors under this Act shall be
5-14 held on May 2, 1992.
5-15 (c) At the first election for directors under this Act,
5-16 seven new directors shall be elected. The four directors receiving
5-17 the highest number of votes at the May 1992 election serve for a
5-18 term of four years. The remaining directors serve for a term of
5-19 two years.
5-20 (d) The terms of the directors serving on the board
5-21 immediately before the effective date of this Act expire when a
5-22 majority of the new directors take office.
5-23 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
5-24 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-25 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-1 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-2 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.