§1055. Powers and duties of commission

           A. In addition to the duties defined elsewhere in this Chapter, the commission shall have the duty and authority:

           (1) To represent the public interest in providing hospital and medical care in the district.

           (2) To advise the police jury and the hospital director on problems concerning the operation of the hospital and other facilities.

           (3) To make, alter, amend, and promulgate rules and regulations governing the conduct of the hospital.

           (4) To conduct hearings and pass upon complaints by or against any officer or employee of the district.

           (5) To review and modify, or set aside any action of the officers or employees of the district which the commission may determine to be desirable or necessary in the public interest.

           (6) To appoint, with the approval of the medical staff, a director of the hospital and to perform such other duties as may now or hereafter be required by law.

           (7) To appoint the necessary standing and special committees which may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this Chapter.

           (8) To establish rates of pay for the use of facilities provided by the district.

           (9) To enter into lease agreements with recognized and duly constituted nonprofit associations which are primarily engaged in the operation of hospitals.

           B. In addition to the powers and duties set forth in Subsection A of this Section, the commission may enter into a special services agreement with any person, including but not limited to a hospital management firm or hospitals, to manage, operate, and administer a hospital or hospitals, or any part thereof, under the control of the commission for the benefit of the hospital service district. Any special services agreement may include a negotiated lease of the district's facilities where the agreement provides for permanent improvements to be made, constructed, or placed upon the leased facilities in the amount of not less than one million dollars, providing that the term of the lease shall not exceed fifty years, and the lessor shall reserve all mineral rights to any land involved. The term of all such negotiated leases in force on July 1, 1987, may be extended by an additional term not to exceed twenty years, on such terms and conditions as may be negotiated between hospital service districts and their respective lessees. Any lease may be mortgaged, pledged, hypothecated, subleased, transferred, or assigned only for the purpose of financing the permanent improvements. The notice of intent to enter into a special services agreement shall be published in the official journal at least sixty days prior to the effective date of the contract. However, any such hospital service district, including any such district which has contracted with an association or entity primarily engaged in the operation of hospitals to manage, operate, and administer a hospital or hospitals within the hospital service district, shall be considered a public entity as defined under the provisions of R.S. 38:2211(A)(1) and all construction work undertaken shall be performed in accordance with the provisions of R.S. 38:2212. The provisions of this Subsection shall not apply to any facility of the charity hospital system of the state of Louisiana.

           C. With approval of the police jury, a commission may without the necessity of competitive bidding or competitive negotiations also enter into special service agreements with any person who is a licensed contractor operating under any contract with the Louisiana Department of Health, whereby the licensed contractor will operate and manage all or any part of any facility owned by the hospital service district, in a manner and for a purpose consistent with the types of services being provided by the licensed contractor under any contract with the Louisiana Department of Health; provided that prior to entering into any such special service agreement, both the police jury and the commission must find that continued operation of all or any part of such facility for hospital purposes is no longer necessary or feasible to accomplish the objects and purposes set forth in R.S. 46:1052. The provisions of this Subsection shall not apply in the parishes of Lafourche and Terrebonne and in Ward 11 of Jefferson Parish.

           Added by Acts 1950, No. 420, §5. Amended by Acts 1979, No. 726, §1; Acts 1982, No. 83, §1; Acts 1983, No. 210, §1; Acts 1985, No. 126, §1, eff. June 29, 1985; Acts 1987, No. 327, §1; Acts 1987, No. 837, §2, eff. July 20, 1987.