Article IX, Section 4 of the Texas Constitution
As amended November 2, 1999:
The Legislature may by law authorize the creation of county-wide Hospital Districts in counties having a population in excess of 190,000 and in Galveston County, with power to issue bonds for the purchase, acquisition, construction, maintenance and operation of any county owned hospital, or where the hospital system is jointly operated by a county and city within the county, and to provide for the transfer to the county-wide Hospital District of the title to any land, buildings or equipment, jointly or separately owned, and for the assumption by the district of any outstanding bonded indebtedness theretofore issued by any county or city for the establishment of hospitals or hospital facilities; to levy a tax not to exceed seventy-five ($.75) cents on the One Hundred ($100.00) Dollars valuation of all taxable property within such district, provided, however, that such district shall be approved at an election held for that purpose, and that only qualified voters in such county shall vote therein; provided further, that such Hospital District shall assume full responsibility for providing medical and hospital care to needy inhabitants of the county, and thereafter such county and cities therein shall not levy any other tax for hospital purposes; and provided further that should such Hospital District construct, maintain and support a hospital or hospital system, that the same shall never become a charge against the State of Texas, nor shall any direct appropriation ever be made by the Legislature for the construction, maintenance or improvement of the said hospital or hospitals.
Editor Comments
This section was added in 1954. It has been amended once.
Its purpose is to allow hospital districts to levy a property tax.
The section must be read together with Article IX, Section 13.
Recent Decisions
None.
Historic Decisions
- Bexar County Hosp. Dist. v. Crosby, 327 S.W.2d 445, 447-48 (Tex. 1959) ("Prior to the adoption of Article IX, Sec. 4, of the Constitution, and Article 4494n, V.T.C.S., the enabling act thereunder, the City and County entered into an agreement for the joint support of two hospitals theretofore operated by the County, which agreement provided that those hospitals would be . . . . The effect of the legislative act was to provide that since the District was charged with the duty and responsibility of maintaining and operating the hospitals in Bexar County, the taxes levied for that purpose should be administered by it. To our minds that is not a grant of public funds within the constitutional inhibition.")
Library Resources
- Vernon's Annotated Constitution of the State of Texas (this multi-volume and up-to-date resource is available at all law libraries and many municipal libraries)
- The Texas State Constitution: A Reference Guide (this one-volume resource is available at most law libraries and some municipal libraries)
- The Constitution of the State of Texas: An Annotated and Comparative Analysis (this two-volume resource is available at most law libraries and some municipal libraries)
Online Resources
- Constitution of the State of Texas (1876) (this resource is published and maintained by the University of Texas School of Law)
- Amendments to the Texas Constitution Since 1876 (this resource is published and regularly updated by the Legislative Council)
- Reports Analyzing Proposed Amendments (this resource is published and regularly updated by the Legislative Reference Library)