By Patterson H.B. No. 901
75R5141 SAW-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the board of directors of the Hopkins County Hospital
1-3 District.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 3, Chapter 43, Acts of the 57th
1-6 Legislature, 1st Called Session, 1961, is amended to read as
1-7 follows:
1-8 Sec. 3. The board of directors consists of seven (7)
1-9 directors who serve staggered three-year terms. A director shall
1-10 continue to serve until a [Within ten (10) days after such election
1-11 is held, the Commissioners Court in the county shall convene and
1-12 canvass the returns of the election, and if a majority of the
1-13 qualified property taxpaying electors voting at said election voted
1-14 in favor of the proposition, the court shall so find and declare
1-15 the hospital district established and created and appoint five (5)
1-16 persons as directors of the hospital district to serve until the
1-17 first Saturday in April following the creation and establishment of
1-18 the district, at which time five (5) directors shall be elected.
1-19 The three (3) directors receiving the highest vote at such first
1-20 election shall serve for two (2) years, the other two (2) directors
1-21 shall serve for one (1) year. Thereafter, all directors shall
1-22 serve for a period of two (2) years and until their] successor has
1-23 been duly elected or appointed and qualified. No person shall be
1-24 appointed or elected as a member of the board of directors of said
2-1 hospital district unless he is a resident thereof and owns land
2-2 subject to taxation therein and unless at the time of such election
2-3 or appointment he shall be more than twenty-one (21) years of age.
2-4 Each member of the board of directors shall qualify by executing
2-5 the constitutional oath of office and shall execute a good and
2-6 sufficient bond for One Thousand Dollars ($1,000) payable to said
2-7 district conditioned upon the faithful performance of his duties,
2-8 and such oaths and bonds shall be deposited with the depository
2-9 bank of the district for safekeeping.
2-10 The board of directors shall elect a [organize by electing
2-11 one (1) of their number as] president, a vice president, and a [one
2-12 (1) of their number as] secretary. A majority of the full
2-13 membership [Any three (3) members] of the board of directors shall
2-14 constitute a quorum and a concurrence of a majority [three (3)]
2-15 shall be sufficient in all matters pertaining to the business of
2-16 the district. All vacancies in the office of director shall be
2-17 filled for the unexpired term by appointment of the remainder of
2-18 the board of directors. In the event the number of directors shall
2-19 be reduced to less than the number that constitutes a majority
2-20 [three (3)] for any reason, the remaining directors shall
2-21 immediately call a special election to fill said vacancies, and
2-22 upon failure to do so a district court may, upon application of any
2-23 voter or taxpayer of the district, issue a mandate requiring that
2-24 such election be ordered by the remaining directors.
2-25 A regular election of directors shall be held on the first
2-26 Saturday in May [April] of each year and notice of such election
2-27 shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the
3-1 county one (1) time at least ten (10) days prior to the date of
3-2 election. Any person desiring his name to be printed on the ballot
3-3 as a candidate for director shall file an application [a petition,
3-4 signed by not less than one hundred (100) qualified voters asking
3-5 that such name be printed on the ballot,] with the secretary of the
3-6 board of directors of the district. Such application [petition]
3-7 shall be filed with such secretary at least forty-five (45)
3-8 [twenty-five (25)] days prior to the date of election.
3-9 SECTION 2. (a) The district shall hold an election for
3-10 directors on May 2, 1998. In addition to the two directors
3-11 previously scheduled to be elected at that election, two new
3-12 directors shall be elected. The two directors who receive the two
3-13 highest number of total votes shall serve three-year terms and the
3-14 two directors who receive the third- and fourth-highest number of
3-15 total votes shall serve two-year terms. If two or more persons
3-16 receive the same total number of votes and if it is necessary to
3-17 break the tie so that terms may be assigned under this subsection,
3-18 those persons shall draw lots to determine their respective terms.
3-19 (b) The three directors elected at the election on May 1,
3-20 1999, shall serve three-year terms.
3-21 (c) Three members of the board of directors constitute a
3-22 quorum until May 2, 1998, regardless of the quorum requirement of
3-23 Section 3, Chapter 43, Acts of the 57th Legislature, 1st Called
3-24 Session, 1961, as amended by this Act.
3-25 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-26 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-27 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-1 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-2 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-3 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-4 passage, and it is so enacted.