1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to local government; modifying hospital board terms of office; clarifying 
1.3 	definition of town;amending Minnesota Statutes 2018, sections 447.31, subdivision 
1.4 	1; 447.32, subdivision 1.
1.5 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.6 	Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2018, section 447.31, subdivision 1, is amended to read:
1.7 		Subdivision 1.Resolutions. Any two or more cities and towns, however organized, 
1.8 	except cities of the first class, may create a hospital district. They must do so by resolutions 
1.9 	adopted by their respective governing bodies or electors. A hospital district may be 
1.10 	reorganized according to sections 447.31 to 447.37. Reorganization must be by resolutions 
1.11 	adopted by the district's hospital board and the governing body or voters of each city and 
1.12 	town in the district. For the purposes of sections 447.31 to 447.38, "town" includes an 
1.13 	unorganized territory; the governing body of an unorganized territory is the county board.

1.14 	Sec. 2. Minnesota Statutes 2018, section 447.32, subdivision 1, is amended to read:
1.15 		Subdivision 1.Terms of office. Each hospital district shall be governed by a hospital 
1.16 	board composed of one member elected from each city and town in the district and one 
1.17 	member elected at large. A member's term of office is four years commencing on the first 
1.18 	Monday in January and until a successor qualifies. At the first election, however, members 
1.19 	must be elected for terms set by the governing body calling the election, so that half the 
1.20 	terms, as nearly as may be, expire on the first Monday in January of the next odd-numbered 
1.21 	year and the remaining terms expire two years from that date. After that, before a member's 
1.22 	term expires, a new member shall be elected for a term of four years from the expiration 
1.23 	date.
2.1 	If a member dies, resigns, fails to qualify, or moves from the hospital district, a successor 
2.2 	may be appointed by a majority of the remaining members of the board the governing body 
2.3 	of the city or town the departing member represents, or if the departing member was elected 
2.4 	at large, by the county board of each county containing territory in the hospital district. The 
2.5 	successor shall hold office until the first Monday in January after the next regular hospital 
2.6 	district election. At the election a successor must be elected to fill the unexpired term.
2.7 	When an additional city or town is annexed to the district, in accordance with section 
2.8 	447.36, its governing body shall by resolution appoint a member to the board. The member 
2.9 	shall hold office until the first Monday in January after the next regular hospital district 
2.10 	election. At the election a successor must be elected for a term of either two or four years, 
2.11 	to be set by the hospital board so that the number of members of the board whose terms 
2.12 	expire in any later year will not exceed one-half of the members plus one.