1. (a) The commission shall establish an emergency hardship grant program.

2. (b) The office may award emergency hardship grants to rural hospitals, rural hospital districts, and rural hospital authorities that have experienced:

   1. (1) a man-made or natural disaster resulting in a loss of assets; or

   2. (2) an unforeseeable or unmitigable circumstance likely to result in:

      1. (A) the closure of the entity's facilities during the 180-day period beginning on the date the entity submits an application for a grant under this section; or
      2. (B) an inability to fund payroll expenditures for the entity's staff during the 180-day period beginning on the date the entity submits an application for a grant under this section.

Added by Acts 2025, 89th Leg., R.S., Ch. 707 (H.B. 18), Sec. 4, eff. June 20, 2025.