79R3659 HLT-F
By: Hilderbran H.B. No. 2587
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the Schleicher County Hospital District.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 1, Chapter 38, Acts of the 60th
Legislature, Regular Session, 1967, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 1. In accordance with the provisions of Section 9,
Article IX, Constitution of the State of Texas, this Act shall be
operative so as to authorize the creation, establishment,
maintenance and operation of a hospital district within the State
of Texas, such district to have boundaries coextensive with the
boundaries of Schleicher County; and said district shall have the
powers and responsibilities provided by the aforesaid
constitutional provision. On approval of the board of directors,
the district may provide primary care, emergency services,
preventive medical services, and other health-related services
outside the boundaries of the district if the services provided
serve the purpose of the district.
SECTION 2. Section 3, Chapter 38, Acts of the 60th
Legislature, Regular Session, 1967, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 3. (a) Except as provided by Section 3A of this Act,
the board of directors consists of seven directors elected from the
district at large who serve staggered two-year terms. A director
shall continue to serve until a [Within 10 days after such election
is held, the Commissioners Court of Schleicher County shall convene
and canvass the returns of the election, and if a majority of the
persons voting at the election vote against the creation of the
district, this does not prevent the holding of other elections for
the same purpose, and if a majority of the legally qualified
property taxpaying electors voting at said election voted in favor
of the proposition, the court shall so find and declare the hospital
district established and created and appoint seven persons as
directors of the hospital district to serve until the first
Saturday in April 1968, at which time seven directors shall be
elected. The four directors receiving the highest vote at such
first election shall serve for two years, the other three directors
shall serve for one year. Thereafter, all directors shall serve for
a period of two years and until their] successor has been duly
elected or appointed and qualified. No person shall be appointed or
elected as a member of the board of directors of said hospital
district unless he is a resident thereof [and owns property subject
to taxation therein] and unless at the time of such election or
appointment he shall be more than 21 years of age. Each member of
the board of directors shall qualify by executing the
constitutional oath of office and shall execute a good and
sufficient bond for $1,000 payable to said district conditioned
upon the faithful performance of his duties, and such oaths and
bonds shall be deposited with the depository bank of the district
for safekeeping.
(b) The board of directors shall organize by electing one of
their number as president and one of their number as secretary. A
majority [Any four members] of the board of directors shall
constitute a quorum and a concurrence of a majority [four] shall be
sufficient in all matters pertaining to the business of the
district. A meeting of the board of directors may be called by the
president or a majority of the [any four] directors. Notice of the
time and place of any meeting must be given to all the directors not
less than seven days prior to the time of the meeting. Nothing
herein shall prevent the board of directors from establishing by
resolution a regular time and place for meetings, for which no
special notice need be given. All vacancies in the office of
director shall be filled for the unexpired term by appointment of
the remainder of the board of directors. In the event the number of
directors shall be reduced to less than four for any reason, the
remaining directors shall immediately call a special election to
fill said vacancies, and upon failure to do so a district court may,
upon application of any voter or taxpayer of the district, issue a
mandate requiring that such election be ordered by the remaining
directors.
(c) A regular election of directors shall be held on a date
authorized by Chapter 41, Election Code, [on the first Saturday in
April of each year] and notice of such election shall be published
in a newspaper of general circulation in the county one time at
least 10 days prior to the date of the election. Any person
desiring his name to be printed on the ballot as a candidate for
director shall file a petition, signed by not less than 10 legally
qualified voters asking that such name be printed on the ballot,
with the secretary of the board of directors of the district. The
petition and an application for a place on the ballot that meets the
requirements of the Election Code must be filed in the manner
provided by Chapter 144, Election Code. [Such petition shall be
filed with such secretary at least 25 days prior to the date of
election.]
SECTION 3. Chapter 38, Acts of the 60th Legislature,
Regular Session, 1967, is amended by adding Section 3A to read as
follows:
Sec. 3A. (a) The board of directors may adopt an order
providing for the election of directors from five single-member
districts.
(b) If the board adopts an order under Subsection (a) of
this section, the board shall create a plan that provides for five
numbered single-member districts for the election of directors.
Each election district elects one member. The election districts
may be coextensive with single-member districts used to elect
members of the governing body of a school district if the territory
of the school district is coextensive with the territory of the
hospital district and the school district elects five members from
single-member districts.
(c) Except as provided by Subsection (e) of this section, to
be eligible to be a candidate or to serve as director, a person must
be a resident of the election district that the person represents or
seeks to represent.
(d) A person shall indicate on the application for a place
on the ballot the election district that the person seeks to
represent.
(e) The directors may revise election district boundaries
as necessary and shall revise the boundaries of each election
district after each federal decennial census to reflect population
changes. Except as provided by Subsection (f) of this section, when
the boundaries of an election district are redrawn, a director in
office on the effective date of the change, or elected or appointed
before the effective date of the change to a term of office
beginning on or after the effective date of the change, shall serve
the term or the remainder of the term in the election district to
which elected or appointed even though the change in boundaries
places the person's residence outside the election district for
which the person was elected or appointed.
(f) At the first election for directors that occurs
following the adoption of an order under Subsection (a) of this
section, all five positions on the board shall be filled. After the
canvass of the returns of the election, the terms of all members
serving on the board at the time of the election expire. At the
first meeting of the directors elected to the board under this
section, the directors shall draw lots to determine which three
shall serve terms lasting two years and which two shall serve terms
lasting one year. After the terms of directors initially elected to
the board under this section expire, each director serves a term of
two years.
SECTION 4. Section 5(a), Chapter 38, Acts of the 60th
Legislature, Regular Session, 1967, is amended to read as follows:
(a) Upon the creation of such hospital district, the board
of directors shall have the power and authority and it shall be
their duty to levy on all property subject to hospital district
taxation for the benefit of the district at the same time taxes are
levied for county purposes, using the county values and the county
tax rolls, a tax of not to exceed 75 cents on the $100 valuation of
all taxable property within the hospital district, for the purpose
of: (1) paying the interest on and creating a sinking fund for
bonds which may be issued by the hospital district for hospital
purposes as herein provided; (2) providing for the operation and
maintenance of the hospital, [or] hospital system, or related
facilities; and (3) for the purpose of making further improvements
and additions to the hospital system, and for the acquisition of
necessary sites therefor, by purchase, lease, or condemnation.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2005.