Because of the posture of this case and the issue presented for our review, I concur in the result. The Alabama Hospital Association, on behalf of its public hospital association and public hospital corporation members, asserts in a most general way that public corporations are not subject to the proscriptive provisions of Sections 68 and 94 of our Constitution. Nowhere has it been pointed out to this Court by the parties that there are various different statutes under which public hospital corporations and associations are organized. The Alabama Hospital Association refers only to the statutes involving Division 1, of Article 4, Chapter 21, Code of 1975 (§§ 22-21-70 through -83), entitled "Hospital Boards." As pointed out in the dissent of Justice Beatty, this is only one of several statutes authorizing public hospitals; and based upon the particular statutes, the legislature may have intended different results.
Until the issues are better defined and presented, I agree that our case of Knight v. West Alabama EnvironmentalImprovement Authority, 287 Ala. 15, 246 So.2d 903 (1971), controls.