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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
A bill to be entitled 1
An act relating to the North Brevard County Hospital 2
District, Brevard County; amending chapter 2003 -362, 3
Laws of Florida; revising the appointment and 4
membership of the district board; requiring the board 5
to determine the operating budget and estimated 6
revenues of the district; removing provisions relating 7
to ad valorem taxation; revising disposition of assets 8
and liabilities in the event of dissolution of the 9
district; requiring the district to conduct a 10
valuation; requiring the district to solicit bids for 11
the sale of district assets; providing for transfer; 12
providing for dissolution of the district; providing 13
that offices and terms of members of the bo ard shall 14
end on a certain date; providing an exception; 15
prohibiting certain actions relating to district 16
assets; providing an effective date. 17
18
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 19
20
Section 1. Sections 2, 6, and 17 of section 3 of chapter 21
2003-362, Laws of Florida, are amended, and section 24 is added 22
to that section, to read: 23
Section 2. The governing body authority of the district 24
shall be known as the North Brevard County Hospital District 25
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
Board. The board shall constitute a body politic and a body 26
corporate; it may adopt and use a common seal; it may contract 27
and be contracted with; and it may sue and be sued in its 28
corporate name or in the corporate name of the district. 29
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The board shall be composed of five nine members appointed 31
by the Governor. All members shall be qualified electors of the 32
district. The Governor shall issue a public notice soliciting 33
citizen nominations for board members within 120 days after the 34
effective date of this act. The nomination solicitation period 35
shall remain open for at least 30 days after the date of the 36
public notice. The Governor shall appoint initial members to the 37
board from among the nominees within 60 days after the close of 38
the nomination solicitation period. The initial terms of of fice 39
for the five members shall commence at upon their appointment, 40
with terms designated as follows: three members shall serve 41
until October 1, 2026, and two members shall serve until October 42
1, 2028. The Governor shall have a citizen nomination 43
solicitation period for at least 30 days and appoint members for 44
subsequent terms from among the nominees. Members appointed for 45
subsequent terms shall be appointed for 4 -year terms commencing 46
on October 1 of the year in which they are appointed. If a 47
member is appointed to complete an unexpired term, the member's 48
term shall commence at the time of appointment and shall 49
continue through the remainder of the unexpired term. The 50
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
Governor shall fill any vacancy for the unexpired portion of a 51
term within 60 days after t he vacancy occurs if the remainder of 52
the term exceeds 90 days . The office of each member shall be 53
designated specifically by number as member one through nine. 54
The office of each member shall be for a term of 4 years 55
beginning on the first day of January. Each member shall serve 56
until his or her successor is appointed by the appropriate 57
governing body as hereinafter provided. Any vacancy occurring in 58
any office of a member shall be filled by the appropriate 59
governing body in the manner provided herein for regular 60
appointments for the remainder of the unexpired term of office. 61
All board members shall reside within the boundaries of the 62
district. 63
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Board members one, two, and three shall be appointed by the 65
City Council of the City of Titusville. 66
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Board members four, five, and seven shall be appointed by 68
the Board of County Commissioners of Brevard County. 69
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Board members six, eight, and nine shall be appointed by 71
the Board of County Commissioners of Brevard County subject to 72
confirmation by the City Council of the City of Titusville. 73
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In the event any board member ceases to reside within the 75
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
boundaries of the district, the office of such member shall be 76
deemed vacant as of the date of such change in residence. 77
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Any board member may be removed from office in the event a 79
request for removal for violation of policies and procedures 80
established by the board is approved by two -thirds of the 81
membership of the board and in the event the majority of the 82
governing body responsible for appointing such member approves 83
of such removal without the necessity of any requirement of 84
advice and consent as provided herein for an appointment. 85
Section 6. It shall be the duty of the board, no not later 86
than July 15, to determine th e operating budget and estimated 87
revenues for amount required during the ensuing fiscal year for 88
the purpose of establishing, constructing, equipping, operating, 89
maintaining, repairing, or leasing of the hospital or hospitals, 90
or for the payment of debt se rvice and reserves on bonds, notes, 91
or other obligations issued by the district, or reserves 92
therefor, or for any one or more of the above purposes. Such 93
determination shall be by resolution of the board and it shall 94
be the duty of the chair and the secret ary of the board to 95
certify to the Board of County Commissioners of Brevard County 96
the amount required, which shall be provided by an ad valorem 97
tax levied by the Board of County Commissioners of Brevard 98
County on all taxable real and personal property in the district 99
for the ensuing fiscal year for the hospital fund. The Board of 100
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
County Commissioners of Brevard County, upon being furnished a 101
certified copy of the resolution of the board regarding the 102
amount required for its stated purposes, shall levy the 103
necessary ad valorem taxes on all the taxable real and personal 104
property within the district to raise the required amount, 105
provided such millage shall not exceed 5 mills on the dollar of 106
the assessed valuation of the taxable real and personal property 107
situated in the district in Brevard County, less all such 108
property exempt from taxation by the Florida Constitution; and 109
further provided that the board, in issuing any bonds, notes, or 110
other obligations as hereinafter provided, may covenant with the 111
holders of such bonds, notes, or other obligations that such 112
holders shall have a first lien on all such ad valorem taxes 113
levied for the payment of such bonds, notes, or other 114
obligations. The resolution of the board above shall be adopted 115
and a certified copy ther eof shall be filed with the Board of 116
County Commissioners of Brevard County no later not less than 10 117
days from the adoption of the resolution prior to the time fixed 118
by law for the levy of general county taxes . 119
Section 17. In the event of dissolution of the district, 120
the residual assets and liabilities of the district shall may 121
only be transferred to one or more organizations which are 122
exempt organizations as described in Section 501(c)(3) or 123
Section 170(c)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (or a ny 124
other corresponding provisions of any future Internal Revenue 125
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
Law) and which shall have as their primary purpose those same 126
health care responsibilities as then performed by the district, 127
together with other public needs of the district, and shall be 128
required to provide the same annual percentage of charity care, 129
indigent care, and Medicaid care, based on gross revenues, that 130
was provided by the public hospital and reported to the Health 131
Care Cost Containment Board in its most recent reporting cycle, 132
and which shall be jointly approved by the district One (1) 133
Commissioner of the Brevard County Board of County Commissioners 134
and four-fifths vote of the City Council of the City of 135
Titusville. 136
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Notwithstanding the foregoing, in no event shall the board 138
sell the hospital facilities without first receiving the 139
approval by a majority vote of the duly qualified electors who 140
reside within the district and who vote in the election. Prior 141
to any such sale, such qualified electors shall, by affirmative 142
vote, consent to such sale of the hospital facilities, which 143
consent must also approve the terms and conditions of the sale, 144
and the disposition of the sale proceeds. The vote on this issue 145
may be received at a general or special election to be held 146
within the district, which shall not be called until notice 147
thereof has been published in a newspaper of general circulation 148
within the district once a week for 4 consecutive weeks next 149
prior to the week during which the general or special election 150
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
will be held. If a majority of the electors who vote in the 151
general or special election vote in favor of the sale of the 152
hospital facilities and if they approve the terms and conditions 153
of the sale, then in that event, the board shall have the 154
authority to consummate the sale upon t he terms and conditions 155
thus approved by the electors. In the event that the duly 156
qualified electors do not ratify and approve the sale along with 157
its terms and conditions, the board shall not have the authority 158
to consummate the sale of the hospital facil ities. 159
Section 24. (a) On or after October 1, 2024, the board 160
shall adopt a resolution to commence a valuation of the 161
district's assets. The board shall contract with an independent 162
entity that has at least 5 years of experience conducting 163
comparable evaluations of hospital organizations similar in size 164
and function to conduct the valuation according to applicable 165
industry best practices. The independent entity may not have any 166
current affiliation with or financial involvement in the 167
district, any support corporation of the district, the Jess 168
Parrish Medical Foundation, Inc., or any member of the board. 169
The valuation must be completed and a final report presented to 170
the board no later than 180 days after the date on which the 171
valuation is commenced. The final report shall be published on 172
the district's website. The final report must include a 173
statement signed by the chair of the board and the chief 174
executive officer of the independent entity conducting the 175
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
valuation that, based on each person's reasonabl e knowledge and 176
belief, the contents and conclusions of the valuation are true 177
and correct. 178
(b) No later than 30 days after the date on which the 179
board receives the final report, the board must adopt a 180
resolution commencing the process of soliciting bids for the 181
district's assets. The resolution must be made available 182
simultaneously to all potential bidders, must include the time 183
and date for the receipt of bids and of the public opening, and 184
must include all applicable contractual terms and conditions, 185
including the criteria to be used in determining acceptability 186
and relative merit of the bid. The resolution shall establish a 187
minimum acceptable bid for the district's assets based on a 188
commercially reasonable value and require bidders to enter into 189
an enforceable commitment that programs and services provided by 190
the district for indigent care must be continued in perpetuity, 191
unless otherwise agreed to by the Board of County Commissioners 192
of Brevard County. 193
(c) Upon completion of the sale of the district' s assets, 194
all liabilities and any proceeds from the sale shall be 195
transferred to the Board of County Commissioners of Brevard 196
County. Proceeds received by the board of county commissioners 197
pursuant to this section shall first be used to satisfy all 198
liabilities of the former district. 199
(d) No later than 30 days after the complete transfer of 200
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
assets and liabilities as provided in paragraph (c), the 201
district shall notify the Florida Department of Commerce. The 202
district shall be dissolved automatically upon re ceipt of the 203
notice by the department. 204
Section 2. The offices and terms of all members of the 205
North Brevard County Hospital District Board existing as of the 206
effective date of this act shall end as of the effective date of 207
this act, but such members ma y continue to serve until a 208
successor in office is appointed and qualified. Until successors 209
are appointed and qualified to replace all of the members of the 210
board existing as of the effective date of this act, board 211
members, officers, and employees of the district may not sell, 212
dispose of, encumber, transfer, or expend the assets of the 213
district as such assets existed as of October 1, 2023, other 214
than in the ordinary course of business. 215
Section 3. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law. 216