Chapter 16, Chapter 16

This article does not include or apply to any laboratory or laboratories maintained and operated by the federal government or to any laboratory or laboratories maintained and operated purely for research or teaching purposes nor to any laboratory operated by a primary health care…

(a) In addition to or in conjunction with any other acts or omissions which may be determined to violate this article, it is a violation of this article for a governing body to hold a private meeting with the intention of transacting public business, thwarting public scrutiny and…

(a) Each regional long-term care ombudsman program shall employ one or more regional long-term care ombudsmen to effect the purposes of this article. The regional long-term care ombudsman shall have either: (1) At least a bachelor's degree in gerontology, social work, health, or …

(a) The State Registrar may appoint one or more local registrars and deputy local registrars, and may assign them to one or more registration districts. (b) The State Registrar may remove a local registrar or a deputy local registrar for reasonable cause.

(a) There is hereby created the "West Virginia Emergency Medical Services Retirement Fund" for the benefit of the members of the retirement system created pursuant to this article and the dependents of any deceased or retired member of the system. (b) All moneys paid into and acc…

(a) The Office of Drug Control Policy may assess a civil penalty for violation of the reporting requirements set forth in §16-5T-4 of this code. If the Office of Drug Control Policy determines that an entity is in violation of the reporting requirements, then a civil penalty of n…

Supportive services funded through the federal administration on aging for older West Virginians may include, but are not limited to: Adult day care, assessment, assisted transportation, care training, chore, counseling, discount, home repair, housing assistance, information and …

(a) There is created the Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementia Advisory Council. (b) (1) The Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementia Advisory Council consists of the following voting members: (A) One individual living with Alzheimer's disease or another dementia or a family membe…

(a) The regional long-term care ombudsman programs shall each create and maintain a volunteer program to effect the purposes of this article, pursuant to rules promulgated by the state long-term care ombudsman and the state commission on aging. (b) A long-term care ombudsman volu…

It is a misdemeanor for any person to solicit, receive, accept, deliver or transmit, by mail or otherwise, material originating from the human body on behalf of any person operating a laboratory not in possession of a license under this article regardless of whether such laborato…

(a) A local registrar shall: (1) Administer and enforce the provisions of this article and the rules promulgated pursuant to this article, according to the instructions of the state Registrar; (2) Require that certificates be completed and filed in accordance with provisions of t…

(a) There shall be deducted from the monthly salary of each member and paid into the fund an amount equal to eight and one-half percent of his or her monthly salary. An additional amount shall be paid to the fund by the county commission or political subdivision in which the memb…

(a) General rule: Upon learning of any errors, the board shall correct errors in the retirement system in a timely manner whether the individual, entity or board was at fault for the error with the intent of placing the affected individual, entity and retirement board in the posi…

All congregate meals and home delivered meals shall contain one third of the recommended daily allowance for vitamins and minerals. Congregate meal sites may include senior centers, community buildings, schools, churches and elderly housing complexes. Home delivered meals are to …

The Department of Health shall establish a Dementia Services Director as a full-time, permanent position. In collaboration with relevant stakeholders and state agencies, the Dementia Services Director shall: (1) Coordinate implementation of the State Alzheimer's Disease and Other…

(a) The bureau may establish local programs of services for the aging as needed throughout the state. Insofar as possible, services shall be designed to foster continued participation of older people in family and community life and to avoid or postpone the onset of dependency an…

The provisions of this article are severable and if any of its provisions shall be held unconstitutional, the decision of the court shall not affect or impair any of the remaining provisions of this article. It is hereby declared to be the legislative intent that this article wou…

(a) The state long-term care ombudsman shall develop procedures for training and certification of long-term care ombudsman volunteers. The regional long-term care ombudsman shall implement certification training for all ombudsman volunteers in accordance with the procedures devel…

(a) To promote uniformity in the system of vital statistics, in addition to the items required by state law, the forms of certificates, reports and other returns required by this article or by rules promulgated pursuant to this article shall include the items recommended by the f…

(a) The Consolidated Public Retirement Board shall, within one hundred eighty days of the effective date of the transfer of an emergency medical services officer from the Public Employees Retirement System to the plan, transfer assets from the Public Employees Retirement System T…

(a) The Legislature finds and determines that: (1) The enactment of §18-5D-5 of this code, creating the shared table initiative in West Virginia Schools has been a major success; (2) Shared table initiatives can be successful in other settings; (3) Senior citizens are often some …

In order to assist clerks of county commission fulfill their responsibilities under chapter forty-four of this code, the State Registrar shall require persons completing certificates of death, to include any known legal residences of the decedent, if different than the place of d…

All notices given under this article shall be in writing and shall either be delivered in person or sent by registered mail.

Every hotel and restaurant in this state shall be properly lighted by day and by night, shall be properly plumbed and ventilated, and shall be conducted in every department with strict regard for the health, comfort and safety of its guests. Such proper plumbing and draining shal…

In every city, town or village where a system of waterworks and sewerage is maintained for public use, every hotel therein shall be equipped with suitable water closets for the accommodation of guests, which water closets shall be connected by proper plumbing with such sewer syst…

All hotels in this state shall be provided with a general washroom convenient and of easy access to guests, and in each bedroom and general washroom there shall be furnished for each registered guest clean, individual towels, of cotton or linen, so that no two or more registered …

Every hotel shall provide each bed, bunk, cot, or other sleeping place for the use of guests with pillow slips and under and top sheets, the under sheet to be of sufficient size to completely cover the mattress and springs, and the top sheet to be of like width and at least ninet…

In every hotel, any room infected with vermin or bedbugs shall be fumigated, disinfected and renovated until said vermin or bedbugs are extirpated.

No person, firm or corporation engaged in conducting a hotel or a restaurant shall knowingly have in its employ any person who has an infectious or communicable disease.

Every person keeping or conducting a hotel shall see that every room or bed, which has been occupied by any person known to have an infectious or communicable disease at the time of such occupancy, is thoroughly disinfected by methods to be prescribed by the West Virginia board o…

Whenever it shall be proposed to erect a building three stories or more in height, intended for use as a hotel in this state, it shall be the duty of the owner or proprietor of such hotel to construct the same so that one main hallway on each floor above the ground floor shall ru…

The West Virginia board of health shall make such rules and regulations, not inconsistent with law, as in their judgment are necessary to carry out the provisions of this article. The director of the state department of health shall enforce any orders made by the board of health …

Each keeper of a hotel in this state shall provide and keep constantly in each room of the hotel, above the second floor, a knotted rope, wire ladder or other proper fire escape of sufficient strength and length, strongly attached or fastened to some outside window in said room, …

Every hotel shall be provided with one fire extinguisher, of style and size approved by the national board of fire underwriters, on each floor containing twenty-five hundred square feet of floor area; and one additional fire extinguisher on each floor for each additional twenty-f…

It shall be the duty of the keepers of hotels and restaurants to exercise due care and diligence in providing honest servants and employees, and to take every reasonable precaution to protect the persons and property of their guests and boarders, but no such keeper of any hotel o…

(a) This section applies to hotels and restaurants that use grease traps that are outdoors or are in areas that are accessible to members of the general public. (b)(1) Grease traps with manhole covers shall be designed to withstand expected loads and prevent access by children. (…

Any person, firm, or corporation operating a hotel or a restaurant in this state, or who shall let a building to be used for such purposes, without first having complied with the provisions of this article, is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined $…

The prosecuting attorney of each county in this state is hereby authorized and required, upon complaint under oath of the director of health, or other person or persons, to prosecute to termination before any court of competent jurisdiction, in the name of the state, a proper act…

For the purpose of this article, every building where food and lodging are usually furnished to guests and payment required therefor shall be deemed a hotel, and every place where food without lodging is usually furnished to guests and payment required therefor shall be deemed a …

Every person, firm or corporation proposing to operate a hotel or restaurant shall apply to the director of health for an inspection and certificate thereof, and said inspector shall inspect the premises described in such application as soon thereafter as may be practicable; but …

The applicant for inspection of a hotel or restaurant shall file with the department of health a written application, in form to be prescribed by the director of health, which shall set forth the name and address of the owner of the building or property to be occupied, and of the…

Every such certificate shall show that the hotel or restaurant is equipped and conducted according to law, and shall be kept posted in some conspicuous place in such hotel or restaurant. Every such permit shall show, according to the fact, why it is granted, and that the hotel or…

No license to keep a hotel or restaurant, or certificate for such license, shall hereafter be authorized or issued unless there be first filed with the county commission to which application therefor is made, a certificate of inspection or permit, granted by the director of healt…

The director of health shall inspect or cause to be inspected, at least once annually, every hotel and restaurant in the state. For that purpose he or any person designated by him shall have the right of entry and access at any reasonable time to inspect kitchens where food is pr…

Whenever, upon such inspection, it shall be found that any such hotel or restaurant is not equipped or operated in the manner and under the conditions required by the provisions of this article, the director of health shall notify the owner, manager or agent in charge of such hot…

No person shall, within this state, manufacture for sale, offer for sale, or sell, any drug or article of food which is adulterated within the meaning of this article. The term "drug," as used herein, shall include all medicines for internal or external use, antiseptics, disinfec…

All articles adulterated in violation of the provisions of this act shall be forfeited by the owner and destroyed by the state department of health.

The repeal of inconsistent acts shall in no way interfere with or prevent the prosecution to final termination of any action or prosecution now pending, or which may hereafter be commenced for any violation of said act which has already been committed.

Any drug or article of food shall be deemed to be adulterated within the meaning of this article: for the purpose of this article: (a) In the case of drugs: (1) If, when sold under or by a name recognized in the United States Pharmacopoeia official at that time, it differs from t…

Whenever the state health officer, the West Virginia Board of Pharmacy, or any county or municipal health officer has reason to believe that any food or drug manufactured for sale, offered for sale, or sold within this state, is adulterated, the state health officer or Board of P…