AB 2546 Summary

• Authorizes Kern County Board of Supervisors to establish the Kern County Hospital Authority as a separate public agency to manage, operate, and control Kern Medical Center and affiliated health care programs and delivery systems.

• Requires the Board of Supervisors to adopt an enabling ordinance specifying terms of transfer to the authority, including real and personal property, employee transition procedures, pension asset allocation, and maintains county's ultimate responsibility for indigent care under Section 17000 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.

• Grants the authority powers of a local unit of government including authority to incur debt, enter into contracts, engage in managed care, establish nonprofit entities, and participate in Medi-Cal and other health care funding programs without affecting county eligibility for those same programs.

• Requires implementation of a personnel transition plan protecting existing employees' classifications, salaries, benefits, seniority, and pension participation, with mandatory 24-month continuation of employee benefits and union recognition.

• Allows Board of Supervisors to dissolve the authority by ordinance, with disposition of assets and liabilities determined through ordinance or board-approved dissolution plan, and permits authority employees to participate in Kern County Employees' Retirement Association.