Senate Bill No. 386
(By Senator Sprouse)
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[Introduced February 3, 1998; referred to the Committee
on Health and Human Resources; and then to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section three, article two-a, chapter
sixteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to powers and
duties of county and municipal boards of health; filing of
rules; and providing that all such rules are subject to
legislative rule-making review.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section three, article two-a, chapter sixteen of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2A. ALTERNATIVE METHOD OF ORGANIZING LOCAL HEALTH
AGENCIES.
§16-2A-3. Powers and duties of county and municipal boards of health; filing of rules.
County or municipal boards of health created and established
pursuant to the provisions of this article shall direct,
supervise and control all matters relating to the general health
and sanitation of their respective counties or municipalities.
The local boards of health also have the power and authority to
adopt and promulgate and from time to time amend rules,
consistent with the public health laws of this state and the
rules of the West Virginia state department of health and human
resources, as may be necessary and proper for the protection of
the general health of the county or municipality and the
prevention of the introduction, propagation and spread of
disease. All rules shall be filed, in the case of a county
board, with the clerk of the county commission, and in the case
of a municipal board, with the clerk, recorder or similar officer
of the municipality. The rules shall be kept by the clerk or
recording officer in a separate book and shall be public records.
All such rules shall be promulgated only in accordance with the
provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code
and are subject to the legislative rule-making review of that
article.
It is the duty of local boards of health to protect the
general health and supervise and control the sanitation of their respective counties and municipalities; to enforce the laws of
this state pertaining to public health, and the rules of the
department of health and human resources, insofar as they are
applicable to counties or municipalities, and to perform duties
in relation to public health as may be prescribed by order of the
county commission or by ordinance of the municipality consistent
with the public health laws of this state and the regulations
duly adopted by the department of health and human resources.
All local boards of health receiving state or federal funds for
health purposes shall submit a general plan of operation for
health purposes to the commissioner of the bureau of public
health for approval. The commissioner may act through any county
or municipal board of health created, established and operated
pursuant to the provisions of this article.
Local departments of health created and established pursuant
to the provisions of either this article or article two of this
chapter shall be notified of each immunization for hepatitis-b
and other blood borne pathogens received by firefighters within
the service area of the local department of health. Local
departments of health shall maintain, for a period of not less
than thirty years, a record of the date of the immunization and
the name of each firefighter within the service area of the local
health department immunized against hepatitis-b and other blood borne pathogens.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require county and
municipal boards of health rules to be subject to legislative
rule-making review.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.