Sec. 263.023. CONSTRUCTION OF HOSPITAL TO AVOID INADEQUATE CARE IN CERTAIN COUNTIES

(a) The commissioners court of a county shall provide for the construction of a county hospital if:

(1) the county has a municipality with more than 10,000 inhabitants as ascertained by the court in the manner determined by a resolution of the court; and

(2) the county does not have a county hospital or the county hospital is inadequate.

(b) The commissioners court shall provide for the construction of the hospital within six months after the date the number of inhabitants of the municipality exceeds 10,000 except that the Texas Board of Health may, for good cause, extend this period.

(c) The hospital must have a room or ward for the care of confinement cases and a room or ward for the temporary care of persons suffering from mental or nervous disease.

(d) The hospital must have separate buildings for persons suffering from tuberculosis and other communicable diseases.

(e) Sufficient accommodations shall be added to the hospital as needed to take care of persons in the county who are sick or injured.

(f) If adequate funds for the issuance of county warrants and scrip for the construction of the hospital are not available from the county, the commissioners court shall submit, either at a special election called for the purpose or at a regular election, the proposition of the issuance of county bonds for the construction of the hospital. If the proposition is not approved by a majority vote at the election, the court shall, on petition of 10 percent or more of the qualified voters of the county, resubmit the proposition.

(g) A petition may not be presented to the commissioners court if a petition has been presented to the court in the preceding 12 months.

Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 678, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1989.