CHAPTER 478

An Act to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered
24-277.1, providing a recount of ballots in certain elections.
[(S 17]

Approved April 5, 1954

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That the Code of Virginia be amended by adding a section numbered
24-277.1 as follows:

§ 24-277.1. When, in any primary, special or general election for the
office of representative in Congress there is, between the candidate re-
ceiving the highest number of votes and the candidate receiving the next
highest number of votes, a difference of five hundred votes or less, the can-
didate receiving the next highest number of votes may appeal from the
determination of the commissioners for a recount of the ballots within ten
days from the day the commissioners ascertain the result of the election
and have reduced the result to writing and signed the same under § 24-272,
but not thereafter. Such appeal shall be by petition filed in the circuit or
corporation court of any city or county comprising a part of such con-
gressional district. Such petition shall set forth the results so found by the
commissioners and shall request the court to have the ballots in such elec-
tion recounted. A copy of the petition shall be served on the candidate
receiving the highest number of votes in the same way a notice is served
under § 8-51 and within ten days after the commissioners have determined
the results of such election. Upon the filing of any such petition the judge
of the court in which the same is filed shall notify the Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court of Appeals who shall thereupon designate two other judges
to sit with the first judge and such court shall be constituted and sit in all
respects as a court appointed and sitting under § 24-431.

The clerks of the courts in the congressional distriét shall deliver to the
court so constituted all ballots cast at the election. The court shall recount
the ballots, or supervise the recount, certify the results of the recount to the
State Board of Elections and assess costs of such proceeding in such manner
as to it shall seem proper.

The court shall stay the action of any electoral official or officials in
connection with the outcome of the election, pending the recount by the
court.

2. This section shall be in force on and after January one, nineteen
hundred fifty-five.
An Act to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered
32-292.1, establishing certain liability for a portion of the cost of
hospitalization, care and treatment of persons certified as eligible
therefor by counties and cities, prescribing the manner of collecting
such costs, and providing for the withholding of certain funds dis-
tributable to a county or city if such costs are not paid. 8 64)

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Approved April 5, 1954
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That the Code of Virginia be amended by adding a section numbered
32-292.1, as follows:

§ 32-292.1. If a county or city certifies that an indigent person is
eligible for hospitalization, care and treatment under § 32-294 and such
person receives hospital care and treatment at the Medical College of
Virginia or the University of Virginia then the county or city from which
such patient is sent shall be liable for the cost of the hospitalization, care
and treatment of such person in the same manner as if such locality had a
contract with the Medical College of Virginia or the University of Virginia,
as the case may be, provided all requirements of § 32-293.1 of the Code have
been complied with except the requirement of a formal contract. Upon
the admission of any such patient such institution shall notify the county
or city which certified the patient giving such details as will serve to identify
him. Upon the discharge of any such patient from the hospital, the in-
stitution shall bill the county or city which made the certification for the
cost of his hospitalization, care and treatment, provided, that the county or
city shall be reimbursed for one-half of such costs as elsewhere provided
for in this chapter. If such county or city fails or refuses for the sixty
days following the receipt of such notice to pay such charge, the institution
shall inform the Comptroller and the Department of Welfare and Institu-
tions of the delinquent amount and of the name of the county or city in-
volved. The Comptroller shall transfer one half of the amount of such costs,
but in no instance more than three hundred dollars, to the credit of the in-
stitution from any nonearmarked moneys otherwise distributable to such
county or city by any department or agency of the State and shall notify the
county or city involved.

The Comptroller shall likewise notify the Department of the transfer,
and the Department shall authorize payment of an equal amount to the
hospital from funds allocated or available for allocation to the county or
city under the provisions of this Chapter.

2. This section shall be in force on and after July 1, 1954.