ENROLLED
H. B. 2130
(By Delegates Border, Kiss, Anderson,
Manuel and Love)
[Passed March 10, 1995; in effect ninety days from passage.]
AN ACT to amend and reenact section eight-b, article fifteen,
chapter eight and section three, article two-a, chapter
sixteen of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, all relating to
firefighters; providing for payment of the cost of providing
immunizations against hepatitis-b and other blood borne
pathogens to firefighters; requiring volunteer and part
volunteer fire departments to obtain no cost or lowest cost
vaccinations from local boards of health or from a licensed
health care provider; requiring local health departments to
maintain records of immunizations; and approval of general
plan of operation of local boards of health by the commissioner of public health.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section eight-b, article fifteen, chapter eight of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted; and that section three,
article two-a, chapter sixteen of said code be amended and
reenacted, all to read as follows:
CHAPTER 8. MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS.
ARTICLE 15. FIRE FIGHTING; FIRE COMPANIES AND DEPARTMENTS;
CIVIL SERVICE FOR PAID FIRE DEPARTMENTS.
§8-15-8b. Authorized expenditures of revenues from the municipal
pensions and protection fund and the fire
protection fund.
Revenues allocated to volunteer and part volunteer fire
companies and departments may be expended only for the items
listed in subdivisions (a) through (h) of this section. Such
expenditures may be made for the following:
(a) Personal protective equipment, including protective head
gear, bunker coats, pants, boots, combination of bunker pants and
boots, coats and gloves;
(b) Equipment for compliance with the national fire protection standard or automotive fire apparatus, NFPA-1901;
(c) Compliance with insurance service office recommendations
relating to fire departments;
(d) Rescue equipment, communications equipment and ambulance
equipment: Provided, That no moneys received from the municipal
pensions and protection fund or the fire protection fund may be
used for equipment for personal vehicles owned or operated by
volunteer fire company or department members;
(e) Capital improvements reasonably required for effective
and efficient fire protection service and maintenance thereof;
(f) Retirement of debts;
(g) Payment of utility bills; and
(h) Payment of the cost of immunizations, including any
laboratory work incident thereto, for firefighters against
hepatitis-b and other blood borne pathogens: Provided, That the
vaccine shall be purchased through the state immunization program
or from the lowest cost vendor available:
Provided, however,
That volunteer and part volunteer fire companies and departments
shall seek to obtain no cost administration of the vaccinations
through local boards of health:
Provided further,
That in the event any volunteer or part volunteer fire company or department
is unable to obtain no cost administration of the vaccinations
through a local board of health, the company or department shall
seek to obtain the lowest cost available for the administration
of the vaccinations from a licensed health care provider.
CHAPTER 16. PUBLIC HEALTH.
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.
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.