No. CS/HB 4087
Filed under Healthcare.
Highlands County Hospital District; Provides requirements & duties of Board of Commissioners of Highlands County Hospital District before lease or management & sale agreements of assets; provides requirements for agreements; requires hospital to file copy of sale agreement with Department of Commerce; requires board to notify department of sale; provides for judicial reviews; provides for court costs.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDThe bill rewrites the Highlands County Hospital District's charter, replacing the board's unconstrained authority to lease or sell the hospital with a detailed, multi-step public process before any full lease or sale can be approved.
Before leasing or selling the hospital in its entirety, the board must hire an independent evaluator, hold a public meeting, and post the evaluation and all related documents on its website for 30 days.
Anyone with an interest in the outcome can challenge the board's decision in court, but only over whether the board followed these procedures, not over whether the price or terms were actually a good deal.
Short-term leases of 10 years or less, and leases already in place before this act, skip the entire evaluation and disclosure process. A completed sale of all district assets dissolves the hospital district itself.
AIBefore the board can lease or sell the hospital in its entirety, it must hire an outside entity with at least 5 years of relevant experience to evaluate the deal, including the assets' fair market value.
AIThe evaluation, proposed agreement, and supporting documents must sit on the district's public website for 30 calendar days, with a way for the public to submit written comments, before the board may vote to approve.
AIAn interested party may sue over a lease or sale decision, but a court may only decide whether the board followed the required steps -- it cannot review whether the decision itself was sound or the price fair.
AIOnce the board sells all of the district's assets and liabilities and notifies the Department of Commerce, the Highlands County Hospital District itself ceases to exist 30 days later.
AIThis charter's own evaluation, disclosure, and review procedure displaces the general hospital-district sale and lease statute for Highlands County, so section 155.40 no longer governs how this specific district's assets are sold or leased.
AIA lease of 10 years or less, or one already in place before this act being modified or renewed, is not subject to the independent evaluation, 30-day posting, or judicial review that a full lease or sale requires.