By Maxey                                              H.B. No. 2837
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to a change in the use by the City of Austin of certain
    1-3  real property currently designated for public use.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  The Legislature hereby finds that the City of
    1-6  Austin would facilitate and improve the availability, accessibility
    1-7  and cost of health care services to its residents if it could
    1-8  either lease or transfer all or part of its hospital (including the
    1-9  main hospital buildings and the professional office building), for
   1-10  operation on a non-profit basis to another entity experienced in
   1-11  providing health care services, which may be an entity currently
   1-12  operating health care facilities located in the City of Austin.
   1-13        SECTION 2.  Section 2, of Acts, 67th Legislature, (1981)
   1-14  R.S., Ch. 492, p. 2109, which changed the designation of "Hospital"
   1-15  on the 1839 plat of the original townsite of the City of Austin on
   1-16  file in the General Land Office to "Public Purpose", is amended to
   1-17  read as follows:
   1-18        The City of Austin is hereby <exclusively> empowered to use
   1-19  such designated land as shown on such plat and as patented to the
   1-20  City of Austin by patent dated July 15, 1994, for any public
   1-21  purpose. The term "public purpose" shall include the lease or
   1-22  operation of the property for health care purposes by a non-profit
   1-23  organization as authorized by the City of Austin.
    2-1        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-2  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-3  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    2-4  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    2-5  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.