A. The Louisiana Department of Health may provide for the services on a contractual basis of a Catholic priest and a minister of the other non-Catholic predominating religious denomination of patients in each of the hospitals under its administration for persons with mental illness.

            B. The Catholic priest shall be appointed by and subject to the Bishop or Archbishop in whose diocese or archdiocese the hospital for persons with mental illness is located. The minister of the other predominating religious denomination shall be selected and appointed by the secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health.

            C. The Catholic priest and the minister of the predominating non-Catholic denomination shall be paid a monthly fee to be fixed by the secretary.

            D. The secretary may provide for the employment of additional chaplains of any religious denomination on a contractual basis and shall have authority to fix their fees.

            Added by Acts 1958, No. 35, §1. Amended by Acts 1977, No. 680, §23; Acts 2014, No. 811, §22, eff. June 23, 2014.