1-1 By: Patterson (Senate Sponsor - Ratliff) H.B. No. 901
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House April 4, 1997;
1-3 April 8, 1997, read first time and referred to Committee on
1-4 Intergovernmental Relations; April 21, 1997, reported favorably by
1-5 the following vote: Yeas 10, Nays 0; April 21, 1997, sent to
1-6 printer.)
1-7 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-8 AN ACT
1-9 relating to the board of directors of the Hopkins County Hospital
1-10 District.
1-11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12 SECTION 1. Section 3, Chapter 43, Acts of the 57th
1-13 Legislature, 1st Called Session, 1961, is amended to read as
1-14 follows:
1-15 Sec. 3. The board of directors consists of seven (7)
1-16 directors who serve staggered three-year terms. A director shall
1-17 continue to serve until a [Within ten (10) days after such election
1-18 is held, the Commissioners Court in the county shall convene and
1-19 canvass the returns of the election, and if a majority of the
1-20 qualified property taxpaying electors voting at said election voted
1-21 in favor of the proposition, the court shall so find and declare
1-22 the hospital district established and created and appoint five (5)
1-23 persons as directors of the hospital district to serve until the
1-24 first Saturday in April following the creation and establishment of
1-25 the district, at which time five (5) directors shall be elected.
1-26 The three (3) directors receiving the highest vote at such first
1-27 election shall serve for two (2) years, the other two (2) directors
1-28 shall serve for one (1) year. Thereafter, all directors shall
1-29 serve for a period of two (2) years and until their] successor has
1-30 been duly elected or appointed and qualified. No person shall be
1-31 appointed or elected as a member of the board of directors of said
1-32 hospital district unless he is a resident thereof and owns land
1-33 subject to taxation therein and unless at the time of such election
1-34 or appointment he shall be more than twenty-one (21) years of age.
1-35 Each member of the board of directors shall qualify by executing
1-36 the constitutional oath of office and shall execute a good and
1-37 sufficient bond for One Thousand Dollars ($1,000) payable to said
1-38 district conditioned upon the faithful performance of his duties,
1-39 and such oaths and bonds shall be deposited with the depository
1-40 bank of the district for safekeeping.
1-41 The board of directors shall elect a [organize by electing
1-42 one (1) of their number as] president, a vice president, and a [one
1-43 (1) of their number as] secretary. A majority of the full
1-44 membership [Any three (3) members] of the board of directors shall
1-45 constitute a quorum and a concurrence of a majority [three (3)]
1-46 shall be sufficient in all matters pertaining to the business of
1-47 the district. All vacancies in the office of director shall be
1-48 filled for the unexpired term by appointment of the remainder of
1-49 the board of directors. In the event the number of directors shall
1-50 be reduced to less than the number that constitutes a majority
1-51 [three (3)] for any reason, the remaining directors shall
1-52 immediately call a special election to fill said vacancies, and
1-53 upon failure to do so a district court may, upon application of any
1-54 voter or taxpayer of the district, issue a mandate requiring that
1-55 such election be ordered by the remaining directors.
1-56 A regular election of directors shall be held on the first
1-57 Saturday in May [April] of each year and notice of such election
1-58 shall be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the
1-59 county one (1) time at least ten (10) days prior to the date of
1-60 election. Any person desiring his name to be printed on the ballot
1-61 as a candidate for director shall file an application [a petition,
1-62 signed by not less than one hundred (100) qualified voters asking
1-63 that such name be printed on the ballot,] with the secretary of the
1-64 board of directors of the district. Such application [petition]
2-1 shall be filed with such secretary at least forty-five (45)
2-2 [twenty-five (25)] days prior to the date of election.
2-3 SECTION 2. (a) The district shall hold an election for
2-4 directors on May 2, 1998. In addition to the two directors
2-5 previously scheduled to be elected at that election, two new
2-6 directors shall be elected. The two directors who receive the two
2-7 highest number of total votes shall serve three-year terms and the
2-8 two directors who receive the third- and fourth-highest number of
2-9 total votes shall serve two-year terms. If two or more persons
2-10 receive the same total number of votes and if it is necessary to
2-11 break the tie so that terms may be assigned under this subsection,
2-12 those persons shall draw lots to determine their respective terms.
2-13 (b) The three directors elected at the election on May 1,
2-14 1999, shall serve three-year terms.
2-15 (c) Three members of the board of directors constitute a
2-16 quorum until May 2, 1998, regardless of the quorum requirement of
2-17 Section 3, Chapter 43, Acts of the 57th Legislature, 1st Called
2-18 Session, 1961, as amended by this Act.
2-19 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-20 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-21 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-22 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-23 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-24 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-25 passage, and it is so enacted.
2-26 * * * * *