IMF H.B. 2328 75(R)BILL ANALYSIS STATE AFFAIRS H.B. 2328 By: Turner, Sylvester 4-25-97 Committee Report (Amended) BACKGROUND Currently, Boards of Directors of Municipal Hospitals and Municipal Hospital Authorities are not required to hold open meetings to deliberate the pricing or financial planning of a bid or negotiation for the provision of goods and services or information relating to a new product line or proposed service. PURPOSE As proposed, H.B. 2328 would provide the same private meeting allowances for hospital districts as are afforded to municipal hospitals and municipal hospital authorities. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 551.085 of the Government Code to include hospital districts created under general or special law to be listed under the provision of entities not required to conduct certain open meetings. The section allows hospital district boards the opportunity to discuss in private information relating to bids or negotiations for the arrangement or provision of services of product lines if the information would give advantage to competitors of the hospital district. The section also provides hospital district boards the opportunity to discuss in private information relating to a proposed new service or product line of the hospital district. SECTION 2. Effective date: September 1, 1997. SECTION 3. Emergency clause. EXPLANATION OF AMENDMENT The amendment to H.B. 2328 deleted "Board of Directors" and replaced it with the name of the entity which actually governs the hospital districts, that is the "Governing Board". The second part of the amendment reinstates the language previously deleted in the original bill, "before the hospital publicly announces the service or product line." This language was reinstated to make it clear that information relating to a proposed new service line or product line of the hospital district will become public at some point in time. This satisfied the concerns of individuals concerned about open records issues.