WEST virginia legislature

2024 regular session

ENROLLED

Committee Substitute

for

House Bill 4376

By Delegates Mallow and Tully

[Passed March 4, 2024; in effect ninety days from passage.]

AN ACT to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §16B-3-21, relating to requirements for smoke evacuation systems for health care facilities; defining terms; providing rule-making authority; and creating penalties for violation of requirement.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

ARTICLE 3. HOSPITALS AND SIMILAR INSTITUTIONS.

§16B-3-21. Smoke evacuation system required for certain surgical procedures.

(a) As used in this section:

(1) "Energy generating device" means any tool that performs a surgical function using heat, laser, electricity, or another form of energy;

(2) "Smoke evacuation system" means smoke evacuators, laser plume evacuators, or local exhaust ventilators that effectively capture and neutralize surgical smoke at the site of origin and before the smoke can make ocular contact or contact with the respiratory tract of the occupants of the room; and

(3) "Surgical smoke" means the by-product, including surgical plume, smoke plume, bio-aerosols, laser-generated airborne contaminants, and other lung-damaging dust, that results from contact with tissue by an energy generating device.

(b) On or before January 1, 2025, in order to protect operating room nurses, operating room personnel, and patients from the hazards of surgical smoke, the Office of the Inspector General shall propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with the provisions of §29A-3-1 et seq. of this code requiring a health care facility licensed under this chapter that utilizes energy generating devices to use a smoke evacuation system during any surgical procedure that is likely to produce surgical smoke.

(c) Any health facility acting by or through its agents or employees that violates subsection (b) of this section shall be punished by a fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than $5,000 for each violation.

The Clerk of the House of Delegates and the Clerk of the Senate hereby certify that the foregoing bill is correctly enrolled.

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Clerk of the House of Delegates

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Clerk of the Senate

Originated in the House of Delegates.

In effect ninety days from passage.

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Speaker of the House of Delegates

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President of the Senate

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The within is ................................................ this the...........................................

Day of ..........................................................................................................., 2024.

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Governor