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A.(1)  A parish hospital service district is hereby created and shall be composed of all of the following areas, except as specifically excluded in this Part:

(a)  East Baton Rouge Parish.

(b)  Any parish whose boundary is contiguous to East Baton Rouge Parish.

(c)  West Feliciana Parish.

(2)  The hospital service district shall be known as the “Parish Hospital Service District for the Parish of (name of parish having the greatest population in the district)”, hereinafter referred to in this Part as the “district”.   The boundaries of the district shall be coterminous with the boundaries of the parishes listed in Paragraph (1) of this Subsection.

(3)  However, the district shall not include any parish with a population of less than fifteen thousand persons based on the latest federal decennial census.

B.(1)(a)  The district shall be governed by a board of commissioners, hereinafter referred to as the “commission”, appointed by the governor from a list of qualified voters and residents of the parish recommended by the parish governing authority as provided in Subparagraph (b) of this Paragraph.  If the governor does not choose to appoint a member from the list of recommendations submitted by the parish governing authority, he may request the governing authority to submit additional recommendations.  As far as practicable, one-third of the commissioners shall be appointed for an initial term of two years, one-third shall be appointed for an initial term of four years, and one-third shall be appointed for an initial term of six years.  Upon expiration of their respective terms of office, the successors to such appointees shall be appointed within thirty days for six-year terms.  Each appointment by the governor shall be made subject to Senate confirmation.  If the parish governing authority fails to submit recommendations for an initial or subsequent appointment to the commission or if the parish governing authority fails to submit additional recommendations when requested by the governor, then the governor shall appoint a person who is a qualified voter and resident of the parish to the commission without recommendation from the parish governing authority.

(b)  One member shall be appointed to serve on the board of commissioners from each parish included in the district; however, the board membership shall be increased and additional members appointed to serve on the board until a majority of the members of the board are qualified voters and residents of the parish of East Baton Rouge.

(2)  The parish governing authority may permit a per diem to each member of the commission in an amount of not less than twenty-five dollars nor more than forty dollars for each day of his attendance at meetings of the commission, not to exceed twelve meetings per year payable out of the funds of the parish hospital service district.

(3)  Any member of the commission may be removed from office for cause and his appointment rescinded by two-thirds vote of the elected membership of the parish governing authority.

C.  In addition to the powers, duties, functions, and responsibilities provided in this Part, a parish hospital service district created pursuant to this Part shall have all the general powers, duties, functions, and responsibilities of a hospital service district created pursuant to the general provisions of Part I of this Chapter.

Acts 2003, No. 1214, §1, eff. July 3, 2003; Acts 2011, 1^st Ex. Sess., No. 14, §1.