Bill > SB560

This bill establishes new reporting and financial requirements for nonprofit hospitals in Montana. Specifically, nonprofit hospitals will be required to report detailed information about their community benefit spending, including expenses for community health improvement services, community building activities, financial assistance, and bad debt. The bill introduces a mechanism to assess a fee to nonprofit hospitals if their total community benefit spending does not exceed the potential property tax liability they would have incurred if they were not tax-exempt. The amount of this fee will be calculated as the difference between their potential tax liability and reported community benefit spending. The fees collected will be deposited into a new special revenue account called the Critical Access Health Care Special Revenue Account, which will be used to provide funding to critical access hospitals. The bill also requires the Department of Revenue to calculate potential tax liability for nonprofit hospitals by treating their property as commercial property and using prior year tax rates. To ensure transparency, hospitals must submit their Internal Revenue Service Form 990 Schedule H within 30 days of filing, and the Department of Public Health and Human Services will review these submissions to determine compliance. The bill will take effect on January 1, 2027, with some provisions applying to critical access hospitals starting in 2031.

Health and Social Services

https://bills.legmt.gov/#/laws/bill/2/LC4205