S.B. 121 78(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


S.B. 121
By: Lindsay
State Affairs
Committee Report (Unamended)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Under current law, the governing board of a municipal hospital, a
municipal hospital authority, a hospital district created under general or
special law, or a nonprofit health maintenance organization created by one
or more community centers is not required to conduct open meetings to
discuss pricing or financial planning relating to bids or negotiations for
the arrangement or provision of services or product lines.  However, some
hospital district health maintenance organization boards are composed of a
majority of public sector members, which makes them subject to the
jurisdiction of the Open Meetings Act.  The purpose of Senate Bill 121 is
to clarify that the board of a hospital district health maintenance
organization that is subject to the Open Meetings Act is able to go into a
closed session to discuss financial matters in the same manner as the
above listed entities.  

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the committee that this bill does not expressly grant
any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department,
institution, or agency.  

ANALYSIS

Senate Bill 121 amends Section 551.085 of the Government Code to  provide
that the governing board of a health maintenance organization created
under Section 281.0515 of the Health and Safety Code is not required to
conduct an open meeting to deliberate: 
_pricing or financial information relating to a bid or negotiation for the
arrangement or provision of services or product lines to another person if
disclosure of the information would give advantage to competitors of the
health maintenance organization; or 
_information relating to a proposed new service product line of the health
maintenance organization before publicly announcing the service or product
line.   

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2003.