Provides relative to hospital service districts. (8/1/26)

SB 144 amends Louisiana Revised Statutes 46:1052(5) to expand the authorized objects and purposes of hospital service districts by adding healthcare facilities to the list of entities with which these districts may cooperate. Specifically, the amendment inserts the phrase healthcare facilities into the statutory provision that authorizes hospital service districts to cooperate with other public and private institutions and agencies engaged in providing hospital and other health services. This modification broadens the category of potential cooperative partners from institutions and agencies to explicitly include healthcare facilities as distinct entities.

The practical effect of this amendment is to clarify and expand the cooperative authority of hospital service districts in Louisiana parishes. Police juries creating hospital service districts under this statute will now have explicit statutory authorization to enter into cooperative arrangements with healthcare facilities in addition to the institutions and agencies previously named. This change enables hospital service districts to formalize relationships and coordinate services with a wider range of healthcare providers operating within their jurisdictions, potentially including specialized healthcare facilities that may not fit neatly within the prior definitions of institutions or agencies.

This amendment operates within the existing statutory framework governing hospital service districts established in Chapter 46 of Louisiana Revised Statutes. Hospital service districts are entities created by parish police juries to coordinate and provide hospital and health services to residents within defined districts. The current law already establishes the authority of these districts to cooperate with public and private entities engaged in healthcare delivery. This amendment simply makes explicit within the statutory language that healthcare facilities qualify as permissible cooperative partners, aligning the statute with the operational reality of modern healthcare delivery systems while maintaining the foundational structure of district governance and authority that existed under prior law.