Senate Bill 2407 Summary

• Designates the board of trustees of a community hospital as a "public body" subject to Mississippi's open meetings and public records laws, while removing the previous exemption for hospital boards and committees.

• Allows community hospital boards to hold executive sessions for physician recruitment and negotiation of business development matters before final employment agreements are executed.

• Exempts trade secrets, confidential commercial information, and business development records of public hospitals from the Mississippi Public Records Act of 1983.

• Requires community hospital boards to establish accountability and transparency websites by January 1, 2016, displaying financial reports, audits, budgets, and other public financial documents.

• Establishes new qualifications for community hospital trustees, including requirements that appointees have no felony convictions, possess a high school diploma, owe no debt to the hospital, and are not involved in pending lawsuits against it; increases performance bond ranges from $10,000-$100,000 to $50,000-$500,000 for hospitals in counties with populations of 100,000 or more.