2020 Georgia Code
Title 31 - Health
Chapter 7 - Regulation and Construction of Hospitals and Other Health Care Facilities
Article 4 - County and Municipal Hospital Authorities
§ 31-7-72. Creation of Hospital Authority in Each County and Municipality

1. There is created in and for each county and municipal corporation of the state a public body corporate and politic to be known as the "hospital authority" of such county or city, which shall consist of a board of not less than five nor more than nine members to be appointed by the governing body of the county or municipal corporation of the area of operation for staggered terms as specified by resolution of the governing body. The number of members of any hospital authority as of March 1, 1984, may be increased by not more than two additional members by the adoption of a resolution of the members of the hospital authority, and such additional members shall be appointed through the same process used for filling vacancies which was in effect for such hospital authority on January 1, 1984. Whenever an appointment to fill a vacancy on the board of any hospital authority is made, either for an unexpired term or a full term, consideration shall be given as to whether a licensed doctor of medicine or registered nurse currently serves on such authority. If no licensed doctor of medicine or registered nurse currently serves on such authority, then consideration shall be given to the nomination and choice of a licensed doctor of medicine or a registered nurse to fill such vacancy. No authority created under this Code section shall transact any business or exercise any powers under this Code section until the governing body of the area of operation shall, by proper resolution, declare that there is need for an authority to function in such county or municipal corporation. Copies of a resolution so adopted and any resolution adopted by the governing body providing for filling vacancies in the membership of the authority or making any changes in membership shall be filed with the department.
2. Appointments to fill vacancies on the board of any hospital authority activated on or after March 15, 1964, for either an unexpired or full term as fixed in the original resolution or ordinance creating the authority, shall be made as follows:
   1. The governing body of the area of operation shall submit a list of three eligible persons to the board of the hospital authority;
   2. The board at its next regular meeting shall either select one of the three persons named in such list or decline to select any of the persons named in the list. If the board declines to select any of the persons named on the list, it shall so notify the governing body; and
   3. Upon receipt of notification that the board has declined to select any of the persons named in the governing body's list, the governing body shall submit a second list of three eligible persons, no one of whom was named on the first list, to the board of the hospital authority. The board at its next regular meeting after receipt of the second list shall select one of the three persons named in the second list.
3. Appointments to fill vacancies for either an unexpired or full term on the boards of all hospital authorities in existence prior to March 15, 1964, shall be governed by the terms of a resolution adopted prescribing the manner by which vacancies are filled, unless changed by local legislation or constitutional amendment.
4. Any two or more counties or any two or more municipalities or any county or municipality, or a combination of any county and any municipality, by a like resolution or ordinance of their respective governing bodies, may authorize the exercise of the powers provided for in this article by an authority. The membership of such authority affected by like resolutions of the respective governing bodies of any two or more of the governing bodies of the participating units shall be not less than five nor more than 15 members, the terms and distribution of members between the participating units to be provided for by the resolutions adopted by the governing bodies of the participating units. The resolutions of the governing bodies of participating units acting together for the creation of an authority may be amended by the governing bodies of the participating units from time to time. Where the governing bodies of participating units have acted together for the creation of an authority under this subsection and where at least one of those participating units is a county having a population of 35,000 or less according to the United States decennial census of 1990 or any future such census, the method of filling vacancies upon such authority may be changed only by local Act of the General Assembly and, when so changed, shall be governed by that local Act.
5. 1. Nothing in this Code section is intended to invalidate any of the acts of existing boards of authorities. Hospital authorities shall be granted the same exemptions and exclusions from taxes as are now granted to cities and counties for the operation of facilities similar to facilities to be operated by hospital authorities as provided for under this title.
   2. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (1) of this subsection or any other law to the contrary, any real property in which 50 percent or more of the floor space thereof, excluding halls, corridors, and public spaces, is rented or leased by persons, firms, or corporations engaged in or conducting a private for profit business or profession owned by a hospital authority which is located in a county having a population of 50,000 or more according to the United States decennial census of 1990 or any future such census or owned by any subsidiary or affiliate thereof and which hospital authority or subsidiary or affiliate thereof operates a hospital containing more than 100 beds, shall be subject to all state, county, and municipal ad valorem taxes in the same manner as other private property.
6. The project or projects of an authority created by two or more counties, or two or more municipalities, or a combination of any county and any municipality may be located outside of the area of the sponsor's operation when it is determined by the trustees that this will best serve the purposes of the facility and provided it is located within the area of service and within 12 miles of the hospital location or within 12 miles of the sponsoring county or municipality, whichever is farther.
7. Hospital authorities created pursuant to this Code section shall have perpetual existence.

(Ga. L. 1941, p. 241, §§ 3, 4; Ga. L. 1949, p. 1141, §§ 1, 2; Code 1933, § 88-1803, enacted by Ga. L. 1964, p. 499, § 1; Ga. L. 1965, p. 347, § 1; Ga. L. 1978, p. 1974, § 1; Ga. L. 1984, p. 585, § 1; Ga. L. 1991, p. 94, § 31; Ga. L. 1994, p. 781, § 1; Ga. L. 1998, p. 900, § 3.)

- For review of 1998 legislation relating to insurance, see 15 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 143 (1998). For annual survey of real property law, see 68 Mercer L. Rev. 231 (2016).

ANALYSIS

• General Consideration
• Appointments to Hospital Authority Boards
• Exemption From Taxation

General Consideration

Construction of "resolution".

- Resolution referred to in subsection (c) of O.C.G.A. § 31-7-72 is that of the hospital authority's board. Brophy v. McCranie, 264 Ga. 187, 442 S.E.2d 230 (1994).

- Hospital authority was an instrumentality, agency, or "political subdivision" of the state for purposes of the state action immunity doctrine and, thus, was immune from an antitrust action brought by a doctor who was denied staff privileges. Crosby v. Hospital Auth., 93 F.3d 1515 (11th Cir. 1996), cert. denied, 520 U.S. 1116, 117 S. Ct. 1246, 137 L. Ed. 2d 328 (1997).

Cited in Bradfield v. Hospital Auth., 226 Ga. 575, 176 S.E.2d 92 (1970); Daughtrey v. State, 226 Ga. 758, 177 S.E.2d 670 (1970); Tanksley v. Foster, 227 Ga. 158, 179 S.E.2d 257 (1971); Collins v. Nix, 125 Ga. App. 520, 188 S.E.2d 235 (1972); Gaither v. Fulton-DeKalb Hosp. Auth., 144 Ga. App. 16, 240 S.E.2d 560 (1977); Fulton-DeKalb Hosp. Auth. v. Gaither, 241 Ga. 572, 247 S.E.2d 89 (1978); Cox Enters., Inc. v. Carroll City/County Hosp. Auth., 247 Ga. 39, 273 S.E.2d 841 (1981); United States v. Wingo, 723 F. Supp. 798 (N.D. Ga. 1989); United States v. Hosp. Auth. of Charlton County (In re Hosp. Auth. of Charlton County), 56 Bankr. Ct. Dec. (LRP) 220 (Bankr. S.D. Ga. July 3, 2012).

Appointments to Hospital Authority Boards

Subsection (b) not subject to change by exercise of home rule provision of state Constitution.

- Language providing for appointment of members of boards of hospital authorities is not subject to change by exercise of home rule powers contained in Ga. Const. 1976, Art. IX, Sec. II, Para. I (see now Ga. Const. 1983, Art. IX, Sec. II, Para. I). Commissioners of Wayne County v. Smith, 240 Ga. 540, 242 S.E.2d 47 (1978).

Exemption From Taxation

Intent behind tax exemption for hospital authorities.

- See Undercofler v. Hospital Auth., 221 Ga. 501, 145 S.E.2d 487 (1965).

§ 31-7-72(e) not ambiguous. - There is no ambiguity in words "the same exemptions and exclusions from taxes as are now granted to cities and counties." Undercofler v. Hospital Auth., 221 Ga. 501, 145 S.E.2d 487 (1965).

Subsection (e) of this section does not violate requirement of uniformity in taxation. Blackmon v. Cobb County-Marietta Water Auth., 126 Ga. App. 459, 191 S.E.2d 128 (1972).

- Sentence whereby hospital authorities are given the same exemption from taxes as cities and counties are now granted does not offend Ga. Const. 1976, Art. III, Sec. VII, Para. IV (see now Ga. Const. 1983, Art. III, Sec. V, Para. III). It is germane to the subject matter stated in the caption and therefore conforms to the Constitution. Undercofler v. Hospital Auth., 221 Ga. 501, 145 S.E.2d 487 (1965).

- Trial court did not err in finding that the eight parcels owned by the Hospital Authority were exempt from ad valorem taxation because no evidence in the record created an issue of fact regarding the usage of the properties, but rather the evidence established that all of the parcels at issue, including those containing parking areas, furthered the legitimate function of the Hospital Authority. Columbus Board of Tax Assessors v. Medical Center Hospital Authority, 336 Ga. App. 746, 783 S.E.2d 182 (2016).

Trial court did not err in finding that the parcel in which the hospital and the clinic, which was for-profit, were located was exempt from ad valorem property taxes as the parcel contained both facilities when the Hospital Authority purchased the property and the square footage of the clinic was less than half of the hospital's square footage. Columbus Board of Tax Assessors v. Medical Center Hospital Authority, 336 Ga. App. 746, 783 S.E.2d 182 (2016).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Hospital authority not within provisions of Constitution authorizing temporary loans.

- County hospital authority is not either a county, municipality, political subdivision of the state authorized to levy taxes, or county board of education so as to come within provisions of Ga. Const. 1976, Art. IX, Sec. VII, Para. IV (see now Ga. Const. 1983, Art. IX, Sec. V, Para. V). 1969 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 69-9.

Governing bodies of counties or municipal corporations operating hospital authorities may, by resolution, change membership in hospital authority. 1970 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U70-217.

- When a hospital authority board elected by resolution to fill vacancies pursuant to this section as it existed prior to amendment in 1978 but rejected a list of three nominees and made its selection from a subsequent list, that appointment was invalid. 1980 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 80-12.

- Action of board of hospital authority in existence prior to March 15, 1964, in electing by resolution to continue to fill vacancies thereon in the same manner as was done prior to approval of O.C.G.A. § 31-7-72 is valid, even though that resolution has not been filed with the governing authority. However, the hospital authority in question should file their previously adopted resolution with the appropriate governing authority so as to enable the Hospital Authority to act as a de jure as opposed to a de facto body. 1981 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 81-89.

Hospital authorities are public authorities which may purchase goods manufactured by Correctional Industries Administration. 1970 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 70-88.

- Collecting officer or officer holding funds of hospital authority may deposit those funds in local bank or banks notwithstanding the fact the that the amount so deposited may exceed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insurance on account, if authority requires depository to give bond or make deposit of securities in trust to secure such deposits, pursuant to former Code 1933, §§ 89-810 and 89-812. 1969 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 69-500.

- Conflict of interest exists when any member of a hospital authority, whether the member be a physician, attorney, architect, or member of any other profession, contracts with the authority to render professional services to the authority for or on behalf of the authority on a fee basis or for a stated stipend. 1983 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U83-5.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

C.J.S.

- 41 C.J.S., Hospitals, § 8.

- Prospective use for tax-exempt purposes as entitling property to tax exemption, 54 A.L.R.3d 9.