Greenville News: Vaughn to ‘hurry’ on hospital bill

He wants to bypass committees on board restructuring

State Sen. Lewis Vaughn says he will wait until the first day of the Legislature’s next session to introduce a bill that would change the makeup of Greenville Hospital System’s board of trustees so he can bypass the committee process.

“We want to get it passed in a hurry,” Vaughn, R-Greenville, told The Greenville News.

Vaughn said his bill would change the board from seven to 11 members to ensure better representation for the county. By introducing it Jan. 8, he said, the bill won’t have to go through the committee process.

Under the current system, there are seven board members who each serve a six-year term — three from the city, three from the county outside the city and one who serves at large.

The trustees nominate two people for each vacancy. Then the Greenville City Council selects one for the city seat, the delegation picks one to fill the county seat, and both select the at-large seat.

Under Vaughn’s proposal, six trustees would be chosen by legislative district and five would be at large.

“No more than three of the 11 can come from any one municipality,” he said. “It assures fair and equal representation across the county.”

Though all would still be nominated by the board, he said candidates would be approved by the legislative delegation.

Board chairman Frank Landgraff said he has met with Vaughn over the past few weeks to discuss the bill.

Greenville News
Published: Saturday, December 15, 2007 - 2:00 am
By Liv Osby
HEALTH WRITER
losby@greenvillenews.com

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