Health - Historical Notes

The following summaries are included herein for reference purposes.

1. Public Acts of 1885, Chapter 95, was a general act which created a county health board, composed of the county judge or chairman, the county court clerk, and the county health officer, or jail physician, who was to act as president of said board.  The board was to have the management of the general health of the county, and to institute whatever measures were necessary when contagious and epidemic diseases threatened the health of the county, and to report same to the state board of health.  The expenses of the county health board were  to be borne by the county, and any person violating any rule or regulation of the board was considered guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to a fine or confinement in the county jail.
2. Acts of 1903, Chapter 480, made it mandatory for street car companies operating electrical, cable, or horse cars whose operator was in front and outside of the car to equip said cars with complete vestibules to protect the operators from inclement weather; however, this act was not to apply to cars operated from March 15 to November 1 of each year.  Violations could be punished by a fine.
3. Private Acts of 1913, Chapter 46, made it unlawful to erect, maintain, or to have any hospital for treatment of contagious or infectious diseases within one-half mile of any public schoolhouse in counties having a population of not less than 70,000 nor more than 90,000, according to the Federal Census of 1910, or subsequent.
4. Private Acts of 1935, Chapter 769,  authorized Hamilton County to contract with the Federal Public Works Administration for funds in an amount not to exceed $1,500,000, to be used in the construction and equipping of a general hospital, and to deliver whatever evidences of debt might be required for the acquisition of said funds.  Such notes were not to be issued until a voter referendum was held, and all of this was to be done by the “Hamilton County Hospital Commission", which was to be appointed by the county judge.
5. Private Acts of 1935, Chapter 796, also subject to the outcome of a referendum, authorized  the county to contract for an amount not to exceed $105,000 in funds from the Federal Public Works Administration to construct needed improvements in and additions to the Hamilton County Hospital for the Insane at Silverdale in said county, and to deliver and issue any evidences of debt which the federal agency might require, including bonds.
6. Private Acts of 1937, Chapter 314, authorized Hamilton County and the City of Chattanooga to construct and maintain, jointly, a new hospital or to enlarge existing facilities, jointly, under the supervision of a hospital board created by this act.  The board was authorized to contract within the limits of funds allotted for this purpose by both of the governments involved.
7. Private Acts of 1955, Chapter 88, would have established the Silverdale board of trustees to manage, control, and supervise, exclusively, the William L. Bork Memorial Hospital at Silverdale.  The act divested all authority in these matters from the county council except the appropriation of funds for the facility.  This act did not meet with local approval and did not, therefore, become effective law.
8. Private Acts of 1957, Chapter 12, created and established the Silverdale Board of Trustees and the Trustees of Baroness Erlanger Hospital of Chattanooga, Tennessee, vested with exclusive management, supervision and control of the Hamilton County Alms House and Asylum, known as the William L. Bork Memorial Hospital.  This act was superseded by Private Acts of 1967-68, Chapter 248.
9. Private Acts of 1965, Chapter 12, amended Private Acts of 1957, Chapter 12, extending the authority of the Board of Trustees to include the operation of a Nursing Home, Rest Home, and/or Home for the Aged.  This act was superseded by Private Acts of 1967-68, Chapter 248.
10. Private Acts of 1967-68, Chapter 225,  authorized the board of trustees of Baroness Erlanger Hospital to accept, in the joint names of Hamilton County and the City of Chattanooga by proper conveyances thereof, the real estate and properties owned by the Tuberculosis Sanitorium Association of Chattanooga, commonly referred to as "Pine Breeze Sanitorium".  This act was also rejected at the local level and did not become law.
11. Private Acts of 1988, Chapter 228, was an act to amend Private Acts of 1976, Chapter 297,  as it was amended by Private Acts of 1977, Chapter 125, relative to appointments to the Erlanger Medical Authority Board.  However, this act was ‘tabled’ by the Hamilton County board of commissioners and no action was taken; therefore, it never became effective law.
12. Private Acts of 2013, Chapter 1, would have amended Chapter 297 of Private Acts of 1976 by making numerous changes to include a new Section 23 concerning cessation of operations and revision of the land to the county and city. This act did not meet with local approval and did not, therefore, become effective law.