By: Zaffirini S.B. No. 934
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the administration, powers, duties, and operation of
1-2 the Starr County Hospital District of Starr County, Texas.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 2, Chapter 118, Acts of the 63rd
1-5 Legislature, Regular Session, 1973, is amended to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 2. The district hereby authorized to be created shall
1-7 provide for the establishment of a hospital or hospital system
1-8 within its boundaries to furnish medical and hospital care and
1-9 treatment and related services to persons residing in the district
1-10 by the purchase, construction, acquisition, repair, or renovation
1-11 of buildings, facilities, and improvements and the equipping of
1-12 same for hospital purposes and the operation, maintenance, and
1-13 administration thereof for hospital purposes. The district by and
1-14 through its board of trustees has full authority to operate
1-15 hospital facilities and shall provide medical and hospital care for
1-16 the needy inhabitants of the district. The district may operate or
1-17 provide for the operation of a mobile emergency medical or air
1-18 ambulance service and may operate or provide for home-health
1-19 services, long-term care, skilled nursing care, intermediate
1-20 nursing care, hospice care, or any other reasonable or appropriate
1-21 medical care or medical service. It is hereby found and determined
1-22 that there is no hospital or hospital system or facilities of any
1-23 nature presently owned by Starr County or by any city or town
1-24 within the boundaries of this district, and that there has not been
2-1 any hospital authority created by Starr County nor by any city or
2-2 town within the boundaries of this district.
2-3 SECTION 2. Section 4, Chapter 118, Acts of the 63rd
2-4 Legislature, Regular Session, 1973, is amended by adding
2-5 Subsections (i) and (j) to read as follows:
2-6 (i) The board of trustees may use district funds, enter into
2-7 agreements, and take other necessary action to recruit or otherwise
2-8 obtain physicians and other personnel for the district's medical
2-9 staff or for employment with the district, including:
2-10 (1) advertising and marketing;
2-11 (2) paying recruitment expenses;
2-12 (3) paying travel and relocation expenses;
2-13 (4) providing guarantees, subsidies, loans, and
2-14 scholarships;
2-15 (5) sharing personnel; and
2-16 (6) authorizing a physician to use space in district
2-17 facilities or providing a rent subsidy to a physician.
2-18 (j) The board of trustees may use district funds, enter into
2-19 agreements, and take other necessary action to conduct, participate
2-20 in, or assist health care education programs for the public and for
2-21 current or potential medical staff members or employees.
2-22 SECTION 3. Section 5, Chapter 118, Acts of the 63rd
2-23 Legislature, Regular Session, 1973, is amended to read as follows:
2-24 Sec. 5. (a) The board of trustees shall manage, control,
2-25 and administer the hospital and hospital system of the district,
2-26 and carry out the functions of the district. The board of trustees
2-27 of the district shall have the power and authority to promulgate
3-1 rules and regulations for the operation of the district.
3-2 (b) The board of trustees may appoint a qualified person to
3-3 be known as the administrator of the hospital district and may in
3-4 its discretion appoint an assistant to the administrator. Such
3-5 administrator, and assistant administrator, if any, shall serve at
3-6 the will of the board and shall receive compensation as may be
3-7 fixed by the board. The administrator, and assistant
3-8 administrator, if any, shall each, upon assuming his duties,
3-9 execute a bond payable to the district in an amount to be set by
3-10 the board of trustees conditioned that he shall perform the duties
3-11 required of him and containing such other conditions as the board
3-12 may require. The administrator shall supervise all the work and
3-13 activities of the district and shall have general direction of the
3-14 affairs of the district subject to such limitations as may be
3-15 prescribed by the board.
3-16 (c) The board of trustees shall have the authority to
3-17 appoint such doctors to its medical staff and employ such
3-18 technicians, nurses, and other employees of every kind and
3-19 character as may be deemed necessary for the efficient operation of
3-20 the district or may provide that the administrator shall have the
3-21 authority to employ such persons. The board of trustees may make
3-22 temporary appointments as it considers necessary. The board of
3-23 trustees may remove from the medical staff, after due process, any
3-24 doctor as necessary for the efficient operation of the district.
3-25 (d) The board shall be authorized to contract with the State
3-26 of Texas and the federal government or any branch, arm, department,
3-27 or agency thereof, for treatment of sick, diseased, or injured
4-1 persons for whom the State of Texas or the federal government is
4-2 responsible.
4-3 (e) The board of trustees may provide retirement benefits
4-4 for employees of the district by establishing or administering a
4-5 retirement program or by electing to participate in the Texas
4-6 County and District Retirement System or in any other statewide
4-7 retirement system in which the district is eligible to participate
4-8 <is also authorized to enter into such contracts or agreements with
4-9 the State of Texas or the federal government or any branch, arm,
4-10 department, or agency thereof, as may be required to establish or
4-11 continue a retirement program for the benefit of the district's
4-12 employees>.
4-13 (f) The board of trustees shall have the power to prescribe
4-14 the method and manner of making purchases and expenditures by and
4-15 for the district and also shall be authorized to prescribe all
4-16 accounting and control procedures.
4-17 (g) The board shall cause an annual audit to be made of the
4-18 books and records of the district as soon as practicable after the
4-19 close of each fiscal year, such audit to cover such fiscal year,
4-20 and to be made by an independent public accountant. Once each
4-21 year, as soon as practicable after the close of the fiscal year,
4-22 the administrator shall report to the board of trustees a full
4-23 sworn statement of all moneys and choses in action received by such
4-24 administrator and how disbursed or otherwise disposed of. Such
4-25 report shall show in detail the operations of the district for the
4-26 year. The board of trustees shall prepare a budget
4-27 showing: (1) the proposed expenditures and disbursements;
5-1 (2) the estimated receipts and collections for the next fiscal
5-2 year; and (3) the amount of taxes required to be levied and
5-3 collected during the next fiscal year to meet the proposed budget.
5-4 The board shall hold a public hearing on the proposed budget after
5-5 publication of notice in a newspaper of general circulation in the
5-6 district. The notice must be given at least once not less than 10
5-7 days prior to the hearing. Any person who is a resident of the
5-8 district is entitled to appear at the hearing and be heard with
5-9 reference to any item in the proposed budget. The fiscal year of
5-10 the hospital district shall be from October 1 of each year to
5-11 September 30 of the following year.
5-12 (h) The board of trustees may contract with an individual, a
5-13 public or private entity, or a foreign government to obtain or to
5-14 supply facilities and services necessary for the efficient
5-15 operation of the district.
5-16 (i) The board of trustees may contract with a municipality,
5-17 county, special district, public or private hospital, or other
5-18 political subdivision of the state or a state or federal agency for
5-19 the district to furnish a mobile emergency medical service or to
5-20 provide for the investigatory or welfare needs of inhabitants of
5-21 the district.
5-22 (j) The board of trustees shall determine the type, number,
5-23 and location of buildings required to establish and maintain an
5-24 adequate hospital system and the type of equipment necessary for
5-25 hospital care. The board of trustees may:
5-26 (1) acquire property, facilities, and equipment for
5-27 the district for use in the hospital system;
6-1 (2) mortgage or pledge the property, facilities, or
6-2 equipment acquired as security for the payment of the purchase
6-3 price;
6-4 (3) lease hospital facilities on behalf of the
6-5 district; and
6-6 (4) sell or otherwise dispose of property, facilities,
6-7 or equipment on behalf of the district.
6-8 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
6-9 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-10 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-11 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-12 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
6-13 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
6-14 passage, and it is so enacted.