AN
ACT Relating to public hospital districts; and amending RCW 70.44.060.
BE IT
ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec.
1. RCW
70.44.060 and 1997 c 3 s 206 are each amended to read as follows:
All
public hospital districts organized under the provisions of this chapter shall
have power:
(1)
To make a survey of existing hospital and other health care facilities within
and without such district.
(2)
To construct, condemn and purchase, purchase, acquire, lease, add to, maintain,
operate, develop and regulate, sell and convey all lands, property, property
rights, equipment, hospital and other health care facilities and systems for
the maintenance of hospitals, buildings, structures, and any and all other
facilities, and to exercise the right of eminent domain to effectuate the
foregoing purposes or for the acquisition and damaging of the same or property
of any kind appurtenant thereto, and such right of eminent domain shall be
exercised and instituted pursuant to a resolution of the commission and
conducted in the same manner and by the same procedure as in or may be provided
by law for the exercise of the power of eminent domain by incorporated cities
and towns of the state of Washington in the acquisition of property rights:
PROVIDED, That no public hospital district shall have the right of eminent
domain and the power of condemnation against any health care facility.
(3)
To lease existing hospital and other health care facilities and equipment
and/or other property used in connection therewith, including ambulances, and
to pay such rental therefor as the commissioners shall deem proper; to provide
hospital and other health care services for residents of said district by
facilities located outside the boundaries of said district, by contract or in
any other manner said commissioners may deem expedient or necessary under the
existing conditions; and said hospital district shall have the power to
contract with other communities, corporations, or individuals for the services
provided by said hospital district; and they may further receive in said
hospitals and other health care facilities and furnish proper and adequate
services to all persons not residents of said district at such reasonable and
fair compensation as may be considered proper: PROVIDED, That it must at all
times make adequate provision for the needs of the district and residents of
said district shall have prior rights to the available hospital and other
health care facilities of said district, at rates set by the district
commissioners.
(4)
For the purpose aforesaid, it shall be lawful for any district so organized to
take, condemn and purchase, lease, or acquire, any and all property, and
property rights, including state and county lands, for any of the purposes
aforesaid, and any and all other facilities necessary or convenient, and in
connection with the construction, maintenance, and operation of any such hospitals
and other health care facilities, subject, however, to the applicable
limitations provided in subsection (2) of this section.
(5)
To contract indebtedness or borrow money for corporate purposes on the credit
of the corporation or the revenues of the hospitals thereof, and the revenues
of any other facilities or services that the district is or hereafter may be
authorized by law to provide, and to issue and sell: (a) Revenue bonds,
revenue warrants, or other revenue obligations therefor payable solely out of a
special fund or funds into which the district may pledge such amount of the
revenues of the hospitals thereof, and the revenues of any other facilities or
services that the district is or hereafter may be authorized by law to provide,
to pay the same as the commissioners of the district may determine, such
revenue bonds, warrants, or other obligations to be issued and sold in the same
manner and subject to the same provisions as provided for the issuance of
revenue bonds, warrants, or other obligations by cities or towns under the
Municipal Revenue Bond Act, chapter 35.41 RCW, as may hereafter be amended; (b)
general obligation bonds therefor in the manner and form as provided in RCW
70.44.110 and 70.44.130, as may hereafter be amended; or (c) interest-bearing
warrants to be drawn on a fund pending deposit in such fund of money sufficient
to redeem such warrants and to be issued and paid in such manner and upon such
terms and conditions as the board of commissioners may deem to be in the best
interest of the district; and to assign or sell hospital accounts receivable,
and accounts receivable for the use of other facilities or services that the
district is or hereafter may be authorized by law to provide, for collection
with or without recourse. General obligation bonds shall be issued and sold in
accordance with chapter 39.46 RCW. Revenue bonds, revenue warrants, or other
revenue obligations may be issued and sold in accordance with chapter 39.46
RCW.
(6)
To raise revenue by the levy of an annual tax on all taxable property within
such public hospital district not to exceed fifty cents per thousand dollars of
assessed value, and an additional annual tax on all taxable property within
such public hospital district not to exceed twenty-five cents per thousand
dollars of assessed value, or such further amount as has been or shall be
authorized by a vote of the people. Although public hospital districts are
authorized to impose two separate regular property tax levies, the levies shall
be considered to be a single levy for purposes of the limitation provided for
in chapter 84.55 RCW. Public hospital districts are authorized to levy such a
general tax in excess of their regular property taxes when authorized so to do
at a special election conducted in accordance with and subject to all of the
requirements of the Constitution and the laws of the state of Washington now in
force or hereafter enacted governing the limitation of tax levies. The said
board of district commissioners is authorized and empowered to call a special
election for the purpose of submitting to the qualified voters of the hospital
district a proposition or propositions to levy taxes in excess of its regular
property taxes. The superintendent shall prepare a proposed budget of the contemplated
financial transactions for the ensuing year and file the same in the records of
the commission on or before the first ((Monday in September)) day of
November. Notice of the filing of said proposed budget and the date and
place of hearing on the same shall be published for at least two consecutive
weeks, at least one time each week, in a newspaper printed and of
general circulation in said county. On or before the ((first Monday
in October)) fifteenth day of November the commission shall hold a
public hearing on said proposed budget at which any taxpayer may appear and be
heard against the whole or any part of the proposed budget. Upon the
conclusion of said hearing, the commission shall, by resolution, adopt the
budget as finally determined and fix the final amount of expenditures for the
ensuing year. Taxes levied by the commission shall be certified to and
collected by the proper county officer of the county in which such public
hospital district is located in the same manner as is or may be provided by law
for the certification and collection of port district taxes. The commission is
authorized, prior to the receipt of taxes raised by levy, to borrow money or
issue warrants of the district in anticipation of the revenue to be derived by
such district from the levy of taxes for the purpose of such district, and such
warrants shall be redeemed from the first money available from such taxes when
collected, and such warrants shall not exceed the anticipated revenues of one
year, and shall bear interest at a rate or rates as authorized by the
commission.
(7)
To enter into any contract with the United States government or any state,
municipality, or other hospital district, or any department of those governing
bodies, for carrying out any of the powers authorized by this chapter.
(8)
To sue and be sued in any court of competent jurisdiction: PROVIDED, That all
suits against the public hospital district shall be brought in the county in
which the public hospital district is located.
(9)
To pay actual necessary travel expenses and living expenses incurred while in
travel status for (a) qualified physicians who are candidates for medical staff
positions, and (b) other qualified persons who are candidates for
superintendent or other managerial and technical positions, when the district
finds that hospitals or other health care facilities owned and operated by it
are not adequately staffed and determines that personal interviews with said
candidates to be held in the district are necessary or desirable for the
adequate staffing of said facilities.
(10)
To make contracts, employ superintendents, attorneys, and other technical or
professional assistants and all other employees; to make contracts with private
or public institutions for employee retirement programs; to print and publish
information or literature; and to do all other things necessary to carry out
the provisions of this chapter.
