All elections authorizing a mill levy assessment for hospital use which were held prior to the effective date of the Hospital Funding Act are declared valid for the use and purposes of that act, and such mill levy may be imposed and collected during the period of the authorization or any continuation thereof, and the funds may be expended in accordance with the provisions of that act. Any institution specifically named in any election is hereby deemed qualified as a county hospital or contracting hospital, as the case may be, and any authorization of the expenditure of public funds by a county hospital in any previous election is declared by the legislature to be authorization of expenditure of mill levy funds for a county hospital or contracting hospital under the provisions of the Hospital Funding Act.
NMS § 4-48B-16