1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to taxation; providing a state-paid aid to 
  1.3             counties to compensate for the cost of providing 
  1.4             medical care to certain individuals; appropriating 
  1.5             money; proposing coding for new law in Minnesota 
  1.6             Statutes, chapter 477A. 
  1.7   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.8      Section 1.  [477A.0123] [CHARITY CARE AID.] 
  1.9      Subdivision 1.  [PURPOSE.] The purpose of charity care aid 
  1.10  is to prevent or reduce the reliance on county property taxes to 
  1.11  meet the cost of providing medical care to individuals who are 
  1.12  indigent and who do not reside in the county. 
  1.13     Subd. 2.  [QUALIFICATION.] A county qualifies for payment 
  1.14  under this section if it contains a hospital that has a medical 
  1.15  assistance disproportionate population adjustment as determined 
  1.16  under section 256.969, subdivision 9, greater than 16 percent. 
  1.17     Subd. 3.  [REPORTS BY HOSPITALS AND COUNTIES.] (a) By June 
  1.18  1 each year, a hospital described in subdivision 2 must file a 
  1.19  report with the county in which it is located setting forth its 
  1.20  audited financial statements and a schedule setting forth the 
  1.21  aggregate amount of charity care for the previous calendar year 
  1.22  that meets the following criteria: 
  1.23     (1) the patient is from a county other than the county in 
  1.24  which the hospital is located; and 
  1.25     (2) the hospital has made a preliminary determination that: 
  1.26     (i) the patient is not eligible for any public health care 
  2.1   program or it cannot be determined whether the person is 
  2.2   eligible for any public health care program; and 
  2.3      (ii) the person is uninsured or it cannot be determined if 
  2.4   the person is uninsured or the person has insufficient resources 
  2.5   to pay the cost of services delivered by the hospital. 
  2.6      (b) By July 1 each year, each county must report to the 
  2.7   commissioner of revenue the total amount of charity care 
  2.8   reported to it by hospitals under this subdivision.  
  2.9      Subd. 4.  [AMOUNT OF AID.] (a) Subject to the limitation in 
  2.10  paragraph (b), payment to a county under this section is equal 
  2.11  to the aggregate amount of charity care, as reported under 
  2.12  subdivision 3. 
  2.13     (b) The total of all payments under this section each year 
  2.14  may not exceed $10,000,000.  If the amounts reported under 
  2.15  subdivision 3 for all counties exceeds $10,000,000 for a year, 
  2.16  the distributions to each county must be allocated in proportion 
  2.17  to the total amount of uncompensated care reported to the 
  2.18  commissioner by the county so that the total of the payments for 
  2.19  the year does not exceed $10,000,000. 
  2.20     Subd. 5.  [PAYMENT DATES.] The aid amounts must be paid as 
  2.21  provided in section 477A.015. 
  2.22     Subd. 6.  [USE OF FUNDS.] Each county that receives a 
  2.23  payment under this section must remit all charity care aid funds 
  2.24  to hospitals described in subdivision 2 that apply to the county 
  2.25  for reimbursement.  If the aid a county receives is less than 
  2.26  the total amount of uncompensated care reported by eligible 
  2.27  hospitals in the county, the aid amounts remitted to the 
  2.28  hospitals must be proportional to the amounts reported. 
  2.29     Subd. 7.  [REPORT TO THE COMMISSIONER.] By March 15 of the 
  2.30  year following the year when the aid was received, each county 
  2.31  that receives the aid must file a report with the commissioner 
  2.32  of revenue describing how charity care aids were spent, and 
  2.33  verifying that they were paid to hospitals described in 
  2.34  subdivision 2 for charity care purposes for individuals who do 
  2.35  not reside in the county. 
  2.36     Subd. 8.  [NOTICE TO COUNTIES.] The commissioner of revenue 
  3.1   shall annually notify the governing body of each county, 
  3.2   providing information, to the extent available to the 
  3.3   commissioner, regarding the amount of reimbursements paid under 
  3.4   this section attributable to care provided to residents of that 
  3.5   county. 
  3.6      Subd. 9.  [APPROPRIATION.] The amount sufficient to make 
  3.7   the payments under this section is annually appropriated from 
  3.8   the general fund to the commissioner of revenue. 
  3.9      Sec. 2.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
  3.10     Section 1 is effective for aids payable in 2001 and 
  3.11  thereafter.