(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the Selma Community Hospital, a private, nonprofit hospital in Fresno County, may enter into a joint powers agreement with one or more of the following public agencies:

(1) The Alta Hospital District.

(2) The Kingsburg Hospital District.

(3) The Sierra-Kings Hospital District.

(b) The joint powers authority created pursuant to subdivision (a) may perform only the following functions:

(1) Engage in joint planning for health care services.

(2) Allocate health care services among the different facilities operated by the hospitals.

(3) Engage in joint purchasing, joint development, and joint ownership of health care delivery and financing programs.

(4) Consolidate or eliminate duplicative administrative, clinical, and medical services.

(5) Engage in joint contracting and negotiations with health plans.

(6) Take cooperative actions in order to provide for the health care needs of the residents of the communities they serve.

(c) Nonprofit hospitals and public agencies participating in a joint powers agreement entered into pursuant to subdivision (a) shall not reduce or eliminate any emergency services, as a result of that agreement, following the creation of the joint powers authority without a public hearing by the authority. The joint powers authority shall provide public notice of the hearing to the communities served by the authority not less than 14 days prior to the hearing and the notice shall contain a description of the proposed reductions or changes.

(d) Nothing in this section shall be construed to grant any power to any nonprofit hospital that participates in an agreement authorized under this section to levy any tax or assessment. Nothing in this section shall permit any entity, other than a nonprofit hospital corporation or a public agency, to participate as a party to an agreement authorized under this section.

(e) Nothing in this section shall authorize activities that corporations and other artificial legal entities are prohibited from conducting by Section 2400 of the Business and Professions Code.

(Added by Stats. 2002, Ch. 55, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2003.)