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Committee reviews plan to fast-track House Bill 3 restoring parts of certificate-of-need law
Summary
Committee discussed House Bill 3, described as restoring last year’s certificate-of-need provisions that never took effect after a vetoed provision; members discussed narrowing an academic exemption for University of Mississippi Medical Center satellite facilities to the area around the teaching hospital.
The chair reviewed House Bill 3 and outlined a plan to expedite the measure to restore provisions of the state's certificate-of-need (CON) law that did not take effect after a governor’s veto of a provision last year.
The chair said the House had just passed the bill and that the committee hopes to have the House message referred to public health and to report the bill out for prompt floor action so that it can proceed to the governor. "This is the same bill we passed last year," the chair said, and told members the intent is to get the measure to the governor's desk as quickly as possible so the noncontroversial provisions become law.
Senator Hill asked whether the bill tightens language for the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) academic exemption from CON, noting that UMMC operates multiple satellite facilities across the state. Committee members explained the bill aims to confine any teaching-hospital exemption to the geographic area around the main teaching hospital so that satellite facilities that resemble typical hospitals would be subject to the same CON process as other hospitals. Sponsors said existing activity would be grandfathered.
The committee did not take a formal vote on House Bill 3 at this meeting; members were invited to review copies of the bill and raise questions in subsequent sessions.
