H. B. 2895
(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Kiss, and Delegates Perdue,
Staton, Beane, Amores, Brown and Ashley)
[Introduced February 7, 2003; referred to the
Committee on Health and Human Resources then Government
Organization.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section four, article one, chapter
sixteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to authorizing the
secretary of the department of health and human resources to
propose a rule requiring dementia specific training for the
employees of certain care providers.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section four, article one, 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 1. STATE PUBLIC HEALTH SYSTEM.
§16-1-4. Proposal of rules by the secretary.
The secretary may propose rules, in accordance with the
provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of the code,
that are necessary and proper to effectuate the purposes of this chapter. The secretary may appoint or designate advisory councils
of professionals in the areas of hospitals, nursing homes, barbers
and beauticians, postmortem examinations, mental health and mental
retardation centers and any other areas necessary to advise the
secretary on rules.
The rules may include, but are not limited to, the regulation
of:
(a) Land usage endangering the public health: Provided, That
no rules may be promulgated or enforced restricting the subdivision
or development of any parcel of land within which the individual
tracts, lots or parcels exceed two acres each in total surface area
and which individual tracts, lots or parcels have an average
frontage of not less than one hundred fifty feet even though the
total surface area of the tract, lot or parcel equals or exceeds
two acres in total surface area, and which tracts are sold, leased
or utilized only as single family dwelling units. Notwithstanding
the provisions of this subsection, nothing in this section may be
construed to abate the authority of the department to: (1)
Restrict the subdivision or development of a tract for any more
intense or higher density occupancy than a single family dwelling
unit; (2) propose or enforce rules applicable to single family
dwelling units for single family dwelling unit sanitary sewerage
disposal systems; or (3) restrict any subdivision or development
which might endanger the public health, the sanitary condition of streams, or sources of water supply;
(b) The sanitary condition of all institutions and schools,
whether public or private, public conveyances, dairies,
slaughterhouses, workshops, factories, labor camps, all other
places open to the general public and inviting public patronage or
public assembly, or tendering to the public any item for human
consumption, and places where trades or industries are conducted;
(c) Occupational and industrial health hazards, the sanitary
conditions of streams, sources of water supply, sewerage facilities
and plumbing systems and the qualifications of personnel connected
with any of those facilities, without regard to whether the
supplies or systems are publicly or privately owned; and the design
of all water systems, plumbing systems, sewerage systems, sewage
treatment plants, excreta disposal methods and swimming pools in
this state, whether publicly or privately owned;
(d) Safe drinking water, including:
(1) The maximum contaminant levels to which all public water
systems must conform in order to prevent adverse effects on the
health of individuals, and, if appropriate, treatment techniques
that reduce the contaminant or contaminants to a level which will
not adversely affect the health of the consumer. The rule shall
contain provisions to protect and prevent contamination of
wellheads and well fields used by public water supplies so that
contaminants do not reach a level that would adversely affect the health of the consumer;
(2) The minimum requirements for: Sampling and testing;
system operation; public notification by a public water system on
being granted a variance or exemption or upon failure to comply
with specific requirements of this section and rules promulgated
under this section; record keeping; laboratory certification; as
well as procedures and conditions for granting variances and
exemptions to public water systems from state public water systems
rules; and
(3) The requirements covering the production and distribution
of bottled drinking water and may establish requirements governing
the taste, odor, appearance and other consumer acceptability
parameters of drinking water;
(e) Food and drug standards, including cleanliness,
proscription of additives, proscription of sale and other
requirements in accordance with article seven of this chapter, as
are necessary to protect the health of the citizens of this state;
(f) The training and examination requirements for emergency
medical service attendants and emergency medical care
technician-paramedics; the designation of the health care
facilities, health care services, and the industries and
occupations in the state that must have emergency medical service
attendants and emergency medical care technician-paramedics
employed, and the availability, communications, and equipment requirements with respect to emergency medical service attendants
and to emergency medical care technician-paramedics: Provided,
That any regulation of emergency medical service attendants and
emergency medical care technician-paramedics shall not exceed the
provisions of article four-c of this chapter;
(g) The health and sanitary conditions of establishments
commonly referred to as bed and breakfast inns. For purposes of
this article, "bed and breakfast inn" means an establishment
providing sleeping accommodations and, at a minimum, a breakfast
for a fee: Provided, That the secretary may not require an owner
of a bed and breakfast providing sleeping accommodations of six or
fewer rooms to install a restaurant style or commercial food
service facility: Provided, however, That the secretary may not
require an owner of a bed and breakfast providing sleeping
accommodations of more than six rooms to install a restaurant-type
or commercial food service facility if the entire bed and breakfast
inn or those rooms numbering above six are used on an aggregate of
two weeks or less per year;
(h) Fees for services provided by the bureau for public health
including, but not limited to, laboratory service fees,
environmental health service fees, health facility fees and permit
fees;
(i) The collection of data on health status, the health system
and the costs of health care; and
(j) Minimum required training for employees of providers
licensed, registered or otherwise authorized to operate pursuant to
the provisions of this chapter: Provided, That the secretary shall
propose a legislative rule mandating that providers licensed,
registered or authorized to operate pursuant to article two-c,
five-c, five-d, five-e, five-h, five-n or five-r of this chapter
and any adult day care center require eight hours per year of
dementia specific training for all direct care staff and for staff
which has daily contact with individuals with dementia: Provided,
however, That each newly hired employee shall receive an
orientation that includes training on the etiology and treatment of
dementia, disease stages, behavior management and residents'
rights; and
(j) (k) Other health-related matters which the department is
authorized to supervise and for which the rule-making authority has
not been otherwise assigned.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require eight hours
annually of dementia specific training for staff in nursing homes
and personal care homes.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.