Law for the Change of National Order of Priorities (Legislative Amendments for Achieving Budget Targets for 2013 and 2014), 5773-2013

This Law comes to amend various laws and to prescribe additional provisions with the aim of bringing about the regulation of the fiscal situation in the Israeli economy and the strengthening of economic growth, while changing the national order of priorities, reducing gaps, increasing the level of employment and the level of productivity in the economy, enhancing competition and reducing the cost of living, streamlining the public sector and deepening tax collection, and with the aim of meeting the deficit ceiling and the governmental expenditure limit for each of the years 2013 and 2014, all in accordance with the budget targets and economic policy for the said budget years.

Chapters II, IV, VI through IX contain indirect legislative amendments. The full text may be viewed on the site under "Reshumot – Sefer HaHukim (Book of Laws)". Attention should be paid to later amendments that may be made to some of these sections.

The purpose of this Section is to enshrine all aspects relating to the payment of an amount by the independent authorities, the increase of the property tax rate within their areas by the additional rate, and every additional provision attendant upon these matters, all for the purpose of paying grants aimed at balancing the current budget or development in local authorities in 2014.

In this Section –

"the minimum amount" and "the maximum amount" – as their meaning in section 9(a) of the Arrangements Law 1992;

"the additional rate" – 0.3%;

"the Arrangements Law 1992" – Economic Arrangements Law (Legislative Amendments for Achieving Budget Targets), 5753-1992;

"the determining date" – the 30th of Nisan 5773 (30 April 2014);

"total property tax charge" – the total property tax charge in respect of all properties, before any discount or exemption, if granted, as detailed in the column "total property tax charge (in thousands of new Israeli shekels) 2011" in the table "Local Authorities 2011" published by the Central Bureau of Statistics;

"properties" and "the update rate" – as defined in section 7 of the Arrangements Law 1992;

"the transfer amount" – an amount that an independent authority is required to transfer to the State Treasury pursuant to section 8;

"independent authority" – an independent authority as listed in section 14;

"the Minister" – the Minister of Finance.

The State shall allocate an amount equal to the total of the amounts transferred to it pursuant to section 8, or set off pursuant to section 12, or transferred to it under this Law by any other means, for the purpose of paying grants, through the Ministry of the Interior, aimed at balancing the current budget or development in local authorities, in 2014, in accordance with the criteria set in Government decisions and the administrative instructions pursuant to which grants of the said type are transferred.

Notwithstanding the provisions of section 9 of the Arrangements Law 1992 or the Economic Arrangements Regulations (General Property Tax in Local Authorities), 5767-2007 –

Notwithstanding the provisions of section 45b of the Budget Foundations Law, 5745-1985, and section 201(a) of the Municipalities Ordinance or an Order made thereunder or pursuant to section 13 of the Local Councils Ordinance, from the commencement date until the end of 2014, an independent authority may obtain credit from a banking corporation, or from another person whose business, in whole or in part, is the provision of credit, in the amount of the sum it transferred to the State Treasury pursuant to section 8, otherwise than under a permit by virtue of section 46(b) of the said Law; where an authority has obtained credit as aforesaid, the amount it received pursuant to this section shall not be considered part of the credit balance of that authority, as its meaning in the said section 45b.

Where any independent authority has not transferred the amount it was required to transfer to the State Treasury by the determining date, the State shall set off an amount equal to the said amount from the State's participation in the authority's budget; for the purposes of this section, "the State's participation" – support, a grant or other participation from the State budget.

The Minister is charged with the implementation of this Section, and may make Regulations in respect of anything relating to its implementation, including rules regarding the manner of transferring the amounts to the State Treasury pursuant to section 8.

An authority from among the local authorities listed below is an independent authority for the purposes of this Section:

The provisions of this Section shall apply notwithstanding the provisions of any law.

In this Section –

"performance at the fixed price for 2012" – the sum of the products of each and every service consumed by members of a health fund in a general public hospital in 2012, multiplied by the gross price of each such service in 2012;

"general governmental hospital" – including activity carried out therein by a health corporation;

"general public hospital" – each of the following:

"administrative instruction" – an administrative instruction prescribed by the Director General of the Ministry of Health or a person authorised by him for this purpose;

"volume discount" – a discount for health services purchased by health funds in general governmental hospitals, set in an administrative instruction;

"tariff discount" – a discount for a specific health service purchased by a health fund in a general public hospital;

"National Health Insurance Law" – National Health Insurance Law, 5754-1994;

"the Accounting Law" – Section B of Chapter V of the Economic Arrangements Law (Legislative Amendments for Achieving Budget Targets and Economic Policy for the 2002 Financial Year), 5762-2002;

"the Supervision Law" – Commodities and Services Price Supervision Law, 5756-1996;

"gross price" – the full price from which the volume discount rate and the tariff discount granted for that service in 2012 are deducted;

"full price" – the maximum price of a hospitalisation day and of an ambulatory and differential service in general public hospitals, as prescribed in an Order under the Supervision Law;

"patient designated for transfer" – a person in respect of whom a decision has been made that he or she may be transferred out of a general public hospital, in accordance with an administrative instruction and having regard to the need to maintain continuity of care, without derogating from the provisions of the National Health Insurance Law, including the provisions of section 3(d) of that Law, and in whom one of the following is present:

"weighted number of insured persons" – as defined in section 17 of the National Health Insurance Law;

"value of excluded services" – the amount of reduction, at 2012 prices, to the individual ordinary consumption ceiling as defined in section 10 of the Accounting Law, set by the Ministers in an Order pursuant to sections 12h(b) and 17(a)(8) of that Law, in 2013;

"consumption" or "purchase", of health services by a health fund in a general public hospital – including consumption or purchase of such services by a health fund in a general public hospital that is a corporation owned by the fund, and excluding such consumption or purchase in a general public hospital operating within the framework of that same fund;

"individual gross consumption floor", for a particular year – 95% of the individual gross consumption ceiling for that year;

"individual net consumption floor", for a particular year – 95% of the individual net consumption ceiling for that year;

"update rate" – the update rate of the price of a hospitalisation day prescribed by the Ministers in an Order under the Supervision Law;

"capitation rate", of a health fund – the rate of the health fund's share of the distributable amount determined by the National Insurance Institute pursuant to the provisions of section 18 of the National Health Insurance Law;

"health corporation" – as defined in section 21 of the Budget Foundations Law, 5745-1985;

"addition" – including an addition at a negative rate;

"real addition" – an addition beyond the update rate of the full price, and if different update rates were prescribed under the Supervision Law for the prices of different health services – an addition beyond the rate, to be published in Reshumot (Official Gazette) by the Ministers, that is a weighted average of the update rate of the full price in accordance with the weight of the different services within the totality of health services;

"individual gross consumption ceiling" – the maximum annual sum payable at gross price that any health fund is required to pay a general public hospital, as prescribed in section 20;

"individual net consumption ceiling" – the maximum annual sum payable that any health fund is required to pay a general public hospital for the purchase of services up to the level of the individual gross consumption ceiling, as prescribed in section 21;

"the Ministers" – the Minister of Health and the Minister of Finance.

The individual gross consumption ceiling, for each of the health funds in each general public hospital in each of the following years, shall be as set out below:

The individual net consumption ceiling, for each of the health funds in each general public hospital in each of the following years, shall be as set out below:

"basic individual gross consumption ceiling" – the performance at the fixed price for 2012 consumed by each health fund in each general public hospital, less the value of excluded services;

"basic individual net consumption ceiling" – the amount resulting from the total payment made by each health fund to each hospital for the purchase of services in 2012, less the value of excluded services, and less the difference between the payment made by the fund for patients designated for transfer in 2012 and the payment it would have been required to make but for the provisions of sections 14(d)(3) and 16(a)(6) of the Accounting Law in that year.

In a general governmental hospital in which a health corporation operates, the scope of the accounts for which a reduced amount as referred to in section 23(a)(2) and (3) is paid and which is attributed to the health corporation shall not be less than an amount equal to 48.67% of the total accounts for which a reduced amount as aforesaid is paid; the Ministers may prescribe by Order, in relation to a hospital and a health corporation operating within its area, for each of the years 2014 to 2016, a different rate of the total accounts for which a reduced amount as aforesaid is paid, after hearing the position of the hospital and the corporation.