All monies paid to the state treasurer representing contributions by city councils, county commissioners, trustees of school districts, or other public agencies, for public health purposes, shall be set up and designated on the books of the state treasurer in a separate account, and shall be expended and disbursed upon warrants drawn by the state auditor against said account when the vouchers therefor have been approved by the department of health.
It shall be the duty of the officers, managers, superintendents, proprietors and lessees of all hospitals, asylums, infirmaries, prisons, jails, schools, theaters, public places and public institutions to remedy any and all defects relating to the unsanitary condition of such institution, or institutions, as may be under their control, when such defects shall have been called to their attention in writing by the department of health.
35-1-103. Neglect or failure of officials to perform duty.
Any member of the department of health, any county health officer, or any officer, superintendent, or principal of any city, town, county or institution named in this act, who shall fail or neglect to perform any of the duties herein required of them, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in the sum of not less than one hundred dollars ($100.00) nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00), or shall be confined in the county jail for a period of not less than six (6) months, nor more than a year, or both.
35-1-104. Applicability of provisions; exceptions.
This act shall not apply to publications, advertisements or notices of the United States government, the state of Wyoming or of any city in the state of Wyoming.
35-1-105. Prohibited acts; penalty for violations.
(a) No person, corporation or other organization nor representative thereof shall:
(i) Willfully violate, disobey or disregard the provisions of the public health laws of Wyoming or the terms of any lawful notice, order, rule or regulation issued pursuant thereto;
(ii) Repealed by Laws 1982, ch. 75, § 5.
(iii) Being a person charged by law or rule of the department of health with the duty of reporting the existence of disease or other facts and statistics relating to the public health, fail to make or file such reports as required by law or requirement of the department;
(iv) Conduct a business or activity for which the department requires a certificate or permit without such a certificate or permit;
(v) Willfully and falsely make or alter any certificate or certified copy thereof issued pursuant to public health laws of Wyoming;
(vi) Knowingly transport or accept for transportation, interment or other disposition a dead human body without an accompanying permit issued in accordance with the public health laws of Wyoming or the rules of the department; or
(vii) Being the owner or occupant of private property upon which there shall exist a nuisance, source of filth or cause of sickness, willfully fail to remove the same at his own expense within forty-eight (48) hours after being ordered to do so by health authorities.
(b) Upon conviction of any of the offenses prohibited in subsection (a) of this section, the violator shall be fined not to exceed one hundred dollars ($100.00) or imprisonment not to exceed six (6) months, or both, and shall be liable for all expense incurred by health authorities in removing the nuisance, source of filth or cause of sickness. No conviction under the penalty provisions of this act or of any other public health laws shall relieve any person from an action in damages for injury resulting from violation of public health laws.
Any person who shall violate any of the provisions of this act, or any lawful rule or regulation made by the state department of health pursuant to the authority herein granted, or who shall fail or refuse to obey any lawful order issued by any state, county or municipal health officer pursuant to the authority granted in this act shall be deemed guilty of misdemeanor, and shall be punished except as otherwise provided therein by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00), or by imprisonment for not more than one (1) year or by both such fine and imprisonment. Division 1. Generally
Except as provided in W.S. 35-4-113, with respect to all persons who, either on behalf of themselves or their minor children or wards, rely in good faith upon spiritual means or prayer in the free exercise of religion to prevent or cure disease, nothing in this act shall have the effect of requiring or giving any health officer or other person the right to compel any such person, minor child or ward, to go or be confined in a hospital, or other medical institution unless no other place for quarantine of such person, minor child, or ward can be secured, nor to compel any such person, child, or ward to submit to any medical treatment. Division 2. Powers and Duties
35-1-220. Legal advisers; provisions as to enforcement.
The attorney general of Wyoming shall be legal adviser for the department of health and shall defend it in all action and proceedings brought against it. The district attorney for the county in which a cause of action may arise, shall bring any action requested by the department to abate a condition which exists in violation of, or to restrain or enforce any action which is in violation of, or to prosecute for the violation of, or for the enforcement of, the public health laws of Wyoming. If he fails to so act, the department may bring any such action and shall be represented by the attorney general or by special counsel.
(a) Any person aggrieved and affected by a decision of the department of health shall be entitled to judicial review thereof, by filing in the district court of the Wyoming county of his residence, within thirty (30) days after such decision, an appropriate action requesting such review. The court may make any interested person a party to the action. The review shall be conducted by the court without a jury and shall be confined to the department's record, if a complete record is so presented, except that in cases of alleged irregularities in the record or in the procedure before the department, testimony may be taken in and by the court, which may affirm the department's decision or may reserve or modify it if the substantial rights of the appellant have been prejudiced as a result of the findings and decisions of the department because:
(i) Contrary to or affecting constitutional rights or privileges; or
(ii) In excess of statutory authority or jurisdiction of the department, or resulting from other error or law; or
(iii) Made or promulgated upon unlawful procedure; or
(iv) Unsupported by substantial evidence in view of the entire record as submitted; or
(v) Arbitrary or capricious.
(b) Any party may have a review of the final judgment or decision of the district court by appeal to the supreme court of Wyoming.
The department of health shall cause all proper sanitary information in its possession to be promptly forwarded to the county health officers, adding thereto such useful suggestions as the experience of the department may supply, and it is also hereby made the duty of said county health officers to supply the like information and suggestions to the department of health, and the department of health is authorized to require reports and information at such times of such facts and of such nature and extent relating to the safety of life and promotion of health as its bylaws or rules may provide; from all public or private dispensaries, hospitals, asylums, infirmaries, prisons, schools, and from managers, principals, and officers thereof, and from all other public institutions, their officers, managers and from the proprietors, managers, lessees, and occupants of all places of public resort in the state, but such reports and information shall only be required concerning matters or particulars in respect to which they may in their opinion need information for the proper discharge of their duties. The department shall, when requested by public authorities, or when they may deem it best advise the officers of the state, counties, cities, or towns or local governments in regard to sanitary drainage and the location, drainage, ventilation and sanitary provisions of any public institution, building or public place.
35-1-223. Cooperation to prevent spread of contagious
diseases; report of epidemics or diseases required from local health officials. The department of health shall give all information that may be reasonably requested concerning any threatened danger to the public health, and the local health officers and all the state, county, city and town officers in the state shall give the like information to the state health officer, and the department and said state, county, city and town officers, insofar as legal and practicable, shall cooperate to prevent the spread of diseases, and for the protection of life and the promotion of health within the sphere of their respective duties. When in any county, an epidemic or contagious or infectious disease including venereal diseases, is known to exist, it shall be the duty of the county health officer of such county to immediately notify the state health officer of the existence of the same, with such facts as to its cause and continuance as may then be known.
35-1-224. Inspection of public buildings and grounds or plans or description thereof.
It is hereby made the duty of all boards and agents having the control, charge or custody of any public structure, work, ground or erection, or of any plan, description, outlines, drawings thereof, or relating thereto, made, kept or controlled by any public authority, to promote and facilitate the examination and inspection and the making of copies of the same by any officer or person by the department of health authorized; and the members of the department may, without fee or hindrance enter, examine and survey all such grounds, erection, structures, buildings and places.
35-1-225. Inspection of water supply; duties as to streets and public structures generally.
The department of health is authorized and empowered to investigate and ascertain as far as possible, in relation to the pollution of streams and natural waters of this state by artificial causes, or of all waterworks, and water systems belonging to any city or town, sanitary district, corporation, company or individual, in this state and supplying water for public consumption, which in their judgment may be necessary to determine the sanitary and economic effects of such pollution, and to enter in and upon the grounds, buildings and premises, waterworks, reservoirs, pipelines, pump houses and everything connected with the collection and distribution of water to the inhabitants of any city or town, to make, institute, and conduct needful experiments pertaining thereto, and shall have power to summon witnesses, administer oaths, and hear evidence relating to such matters, and to make full report to the city, town or sanitary district authorities and also to the proper officers of any privately owned water utility when included in such investigations, of their operations and investigations in writing; and it shall be the duty of all such officers when notified of any unsanitary conditions of streets, alleys, sidewalks, waterworks, or other public ways, structures or improvements under their control, to at once take steps to repair, cleanse, abate or destroy the same.
35-1-226. Power of department in cities and towns.
It shall be the duty of the state department of health, upon petition of at least twenty (20) taxpayers in any community, to send a competent representative to any incorporated city or town in this state for the purpose of inspecting and thoroughly investigating the sanitary condition of such city or town and the department shall have the power and it shall be the duty of the department to condemn, in any such city or town, any buildings, sewers, water connections, or other things, that in their judgment are in such condition as is likely to produce or cause the spread of epidemic diseases. And the department shall give notice to the mayor and council of such city or town to repair, remove, cleanse or remedy such defect or defects, within ten (10) days, and if the same shall not be done within the time specified in said notice, as directed by the department of health, it shall be the duty of the department to have same done; and the department is authorized to employ sufficient labor and furnish all necessary materials for the performance of such work, and it shall be the duty of the department, upon the completion of such work, to issue certificates to the person or persons performing such work and furnishing material therefor, and to file a report of the expense incurred in the performance of such work with the clerk of said city or town; and it shall be the duty of the council of such city or town where such work has been performed, to issue warrant or warrants to the proper parties for the payment of all such expense. Said warrant or warrants to be paid by the treasurer of such city or town as other warrants are paid.
The county health officers of this state shall be under the direction and supervision of the state department of health, and the state department of health shall have authority to make such rules and regulations for the government and direction of said county health officers as in their judgment may be best suited to maintain the public health.
(a) The state department of health is hereby empowered and directed to make such rules and regulations as shall in its judgment be necessary for the carrying out of the provisions of this act, including rules and regulations providing for the control and treatment of persons isolated or quarantined under the provisions of W.S. 35-4-133 and 35-4-134, and such other rules and regulations not in conflict with provisions of this act concerning the control of venereal diseases and concerning the care, treatment and quarantine of persons infected therewith as it may from time to time deem advisable. All such regulations so made shall be of force and binding upon all county and municipal health officers and other persons affected by this act and shall have the force and effect of law; provided, further, that the expense incident to the quarantine and treatment of venereally infected persons in prisons shall be borne by the county in which the person or persons are imprisoned, excepting inmates of state institutions which shall be borne by the state, when evidenced by proper vouchers and receipts approved by the department of health.
(b) The department of health may promulgate rules and regulations to set standards for the chemical, bacteriological, physical or radiological content of a small water supply and shall be applicable only when a legal interest in real property to which the small water supply is appurtenant is conveyed from one (1) party to another or when a conveyance is reasonably anticipated and when such standards are required by a lender. As used in this subsection, "small water supply" means any water supply with not more than nine (9) service connections, which is currently used for human consumption or for which plans exist for its future use for human consumption. The cost of any testing to determine the chemical, bacteriological, physical or radiological content of a small water supply shall be borne by the parties. Division 3. Administration
(a) Subject to subsection (c) of this section, the department of health, through the state health officer, or under his direction and supervision, through the other employees of the department, shall have and exercise the following powers and duties:
(i) To exercise in Wyoming, all the rights and powers and perform all duties hereunder;
(ii) To investigate and control the causes of epidemic, endemic, communicable, occupational and other diseases and afflictions, and physical disabilities resulting therefrom, affecting the public health;
(iii) To establish, maintain and enforce isolation and quarantine, and in pursuance thereof, and for such purpose only, to exercise such physical control over property and over the persons of the people within this state as the state health officer may find necessary for the protection of the public health;
(iv) To close theaters, schools and other public places, and to forbid gatherings of people when necessary to protect the public health;
(v) To abate nuisances when necessary for the protection of the public health;
(vi) To enforce such sanitary standards for the protection of public health as to the quality of water supplied to the public and as to the quality of the effluent of sewerage systems and trade wastes discharged upon the land or into the surface or ground waters of the state, as are or may be established by law, and to advise with municipalities, utilities, institutions, organizations and individuals, concerning the methods or processes believed by him best suited to provide the protection or purification of water and the treatment of sewage and trade wastes to meet such minimum standards;
(vii) To collect, compile, and tabulate reports of marriages, divorces and annulments, births, deaths and morbidity, and to require any person having information with regard to the same to make such reports;
(viii) To regulate the disposal, transportation, interment and disinterment of the dead;
(ix) To establish, maintain and approve chemical, bacteriological and biological laboratories and to conduct or require such laboratory investigations and examinations as it may deem necessary or proper for the protection of the public health;
(x) To make, approve, and require standard diagnostic tests and to prepare, distribute and require the completion of forms of certificates with respect thereto;
(xi) To purchase and to distribute to licensed physicians, with or without charge, as the department may determine, or to administer such vaccines, serums, toxoids and other approved biological or therapeutic products as may be necessary for the protection of the public health;
(xii) To exercise sanitary control over the use of water employed in the irrigation of vegetables or other edible crops intended for human consumption, and to exercise sanitary control over the use of fertilizer derived from excreta of human beings or from the sludge of sewage disposal plants. The state health officer shall have authority to impound any and all vegetables and other edible crops and meat and animal products intended for human consumption which have been grown or produced in violation of the orders, rules and regulations of the department, and upon five (5) days notice and after affording reasonable opportunity for a hearing, to the interested parties before the state health officer or his designee, to condemn and destroy the same if it deems such necessary for the protection of the public health;
(xiii) To certify, inspect and exercise sanitary control over hospitals, sanitoriums, convalescent homes, maternity homes, asylums, and other similar institutions;
(xiv) To establish standards and make sanitary, sewerage and health inspections for charitable, penal and other state and county institutions;
(xv) To enforce current sanitary standards, or those that may be established by law, for the operation and maintenance of lodging houses, hotels, public conveyances and stations, schools, factories, workshops, industrial and labor camps, recreational resorts and camps, and other buildings, centers and places used for public gatherings;
(xvi) To establish and enforce sanitary standards for the operation of toilet facilities in all garages, filling stations and other places of business which maintain such facilities for the convenience of their patrons;
(xvii) To disseminate public health information;
(xviii) To exercise all the rights and powers and perform all the duties vested in or imposed by law upon the state department of health, its officers and employees, as constituted before this act, becomes effective; to hold hearings, administer oaths, subpoena witnesses and take testimony in all matters relating to the exercise and performances of the powers and duties vested in or imposed upon the department;
(xix) To advise the director of the department about public health issues, programs and policies for the state;
(xx) To operate a public health nursing program which may include, but is not limited to, provision of immunizations, evaluation of the need of individuals for nursing home admission or services and the operation of an infant public health nurse home visitation subprogram. The public health nursing program may, where and to the extent appropriate, be administered through or in conjunction with county, municipal or district health departments;
(xxi) During a public health emergency as defined by W.S. 35-4-115(a)(i), the state health officer may prescribe pharmaceutical or therapeutic interventions en masse as necessary to protect the public health;
(xxii) Administer the Wyoming physician recruitment grant program provided in W.S. 35-1-1101;
(xxiii) Develop initiatives and provide information to the public regarding palliative care as provided in W.S. 35-1-1203.
(b) In carrying out duties prescribed under paragraphs (a)(ii) and (vii) of this section, the department shall:
(i) Develop and require the uniform registration and reporting of medical information by hospitals, physicians and other health care providers as necessary to establish the Wyoming central tumor registry in accordance with the American college of surgeons guidelines;
(ii) By rule and regulation establish registration fees for hospitals, physicians or other health care providers required to register medical information with the registry under paragraph (b)(i) of this section in an amount to ensure that, to the extent practicable, the total revenue generated from the fees collected approximates but does not exceed the direct and indirect costs of administering and operating the registry. Fees collected under this paragraph shall be deposited in the general fund.
(c) Any order issued under this section that restricts individuals' movements or their ability to engage in any activity, that applies to individuals not under an isolation or quarantine order and that is designed to prevent or limit the transmission of a contagious or possibly contagious disease shall be effective for a period of not more than ten (10) days. Subsequent orders for the same or substantially same purpose shall only be issued by the governor, with consultation provided by the state health officer and shall be in effect for not more than sixty (60) days.
35-1-241. Safe disposal of corpses in emergency circumstances.
(a) The state health officer in consultation with the appropriate county coroner, during the period that a public health emergency exists, may:
(i) Adopt and enforce measures to provide for the safe disposal of corpses as may be reasonable and necessary for emergency response. These measures may include the embalming, burial, cremation, interment, disinterment, transportation and disposal of corpses;
(ii) Take possession or control of any corpse;
(iii) Order the disposal of any corpse of a person who has died of an infectious disease through burial or cremation within twenty-four (24) hours after death;
(iv) Compel any person authorized to embalm, bury, cremate, inter, disinter, transport or dispose of corpses to accept any corpse or provide the use of his business or facility if the actions are reasonable and necessary for emergency response. The use of a business or facility may include transferring the management and supervision of the business or facility to the state health officer and granting the right for the state health officer to take immediate possession for a limited or unlimited period of time, but shall not exceed beyond the termination of the public health emergency.
(b) Every corpse prior to disposal pursuant to subsection
(a) of this section shall be clearly labeled with all available information to identify the decedent and the circumstances of death. Any corpse of a deceased person with an infectious disease shall have an external, clearly visible tag indicating that the corpse is infected and, if known, the infectious disease.
(c) Every person in charge of disposing of any corpse pursuant to subsection (a) of this section shall maintain a written record of each corpse and all available information to identify the decedent and the circumstances of death and disposal. If a corpse cannot be identified, prior to disposal a qualified person shall, to the extent possible, take fingerprints and one (1) or more photographs of the corpse, and collect a DNA specimen. All information collected under this subsection shall be promptly forwarded to the state health official.
(d) As used in this section "public health emergency" means as defined by W.S. 35-4-115(a)(i).
(a) In exercising its powers and duties under W.S. 35-1-240(a)(xx), the department of health may enter into memoranda of understanding with the several counties separately for the organization, management, delivery and financing of public health nursing and related functions. The county commissioners of each county shall have at least the following choices for organizing public health nursing and related functions:
(i) A partnership memorandum of understanding system;
(ii) A state administered public health nursing system with a county contribution; or
(iii) Subject to the limitation stated in subsection
(e) of this section, a system under which the state contracts with a county for the provision of all or a portion of the public health nursing and other public health functions.
(b) A memorandum of understanding entered into pursuant to this section may:
(i) Specify how the state and county employees will be supervised and disciplined;
(ii) Specify the hours that public health offices will be open and the holidays that will be observed and may require both state and county employees in the public health functions to conform to a common work schedule, which may be different in different counties;
(iii) Specify which resources, including financial and physical resources, will be furnished by the state and which by the county or other local entity;
(iv) Contain any other provisions useful in the organization, management or delivery of public health services.
(c) Any county entering into a memorandum of understanding with the department to provide public health nursing services under the systems specified in paragraph (a)(i) or (ii) of this section shall be allowed to provide services under a different system specified in paragraph (a)(i), (ii) or (iii) of this section at any time on or before July 1, 2018. After July 1, 2018, a county shall not be allowed to change the system under which public health nursing services are provided unless the department consents to the change.
(d) If the commissioners of a county enter into a memorandum of understanding to provide public health nursing services under the system specified in paragraph (a)(ii) of this section, at the request of the commissioners of the county, county employee positions assisting in providing public health functions may be transferred to state at-will employee contract positions under W.S. 9-2-3207(a)(xi)(F) or to permanent state positions, provided that the number of positions transferred under this subsection shall not exceed the largest number of public health nursing positions in the county between July 1 and December 31 of the year prior to the transfer. A transfer under this subsection shall mean payment of monies to the department for the purpose of creating a position under W.S. 35-1-243(a)(ii). Any state employee position created shall comply with the state of Wyoming personnel rules. The department may charge an administrative fee and accept county or other local funds to defray the cost of transferred positions as provided in the memorandum of understanding. The funds shall be deposited by the state treasurer in a separate account. The funds in the account are continuously appropriated to the department of health and shall be paid out upon request of the department as provided by law. Positions transferred under this subsection into state permanent positions shall be paid benefits in the same manner and at the same rates as for comparable state employees pursuant to the state of Wyoming compensation policy. The department's authorization for employee positions shall be expanded by operation of law to accommodate all positions transferred to the state under this subsection and shall continue so long as the county that requested the transfers satisfies its obligations under its memorandum of understanding with the department. Upon a county's failure to make all payments required by its memorandum of understanding with the department or upon the county's request, the department shall no longer have any state positions transferred by the county under this subsection and, upon written notice to the transferred employees and the county, shall follow the state of Wyoming personnel rules regarding reductions in force. All positions created under this subsection shall be included within the department's standard or supplemental budget request.
(e) Any entity providing public health nursing services under paragraph (a)(i) or (ii) of this section and which maintains a city, county or district board of health under W.S. 35-1-301 through 35-1-309 may enter into a contract with the department to perform public health nursing services under paragraph (a)(iii) of this section pursuant to subsection (c) of this section. This subsection and any contract made pursuant to it shall be operable only for the period for which the department is specifically authorized by law to transfer funds between expenditure series for the purpose of making payments to those entities that operate public health nursing services pursuant to this subsection. The department's authorization for employee positions shall be reduced automatically to correspond with any transfer of funds from a salary expenditure series to a contract series. All contracts made pursuant to this subsection shall be conditioned upon the availability of appropriate funding and the authority to transfer funds as provided in this subsection. A contract made pursuant to this subsection shall provide, with as much specificity as is reasonable and practical given the time available, the services to be performed, the resources and other assistance to be provided by the state and the outcomes expected.
(f) When compensation to state public health nursing employees is increased, the department shall determine a corresponding increase to contract amounts for counties providing public health nursing services under paragraph (a)(iii) of this section and request this increase in the department's standard budget or supplemental budget request.
(g) If the commissioners of two (2) or more counties desire to form a joint powers board to manage all or part of the public health functions in the respective counties, the relevant memoranda of understanding may be modified accordingly and may provide for transition to a joint powers board upon its creation pursuant to the Wyoming Joint Powers Act.
(h) The county commissioners of each county may choose for all or a portion of their county to use, for the delivery and management of public health nursing and related functions, any existing organization which currently delivers any or all public health services.
(a) The department of health may charge reasonable fees for laboratory testing services provided to other state agencies, local law enforcement entities and other individuals or organizations in accordance with the following:
(i) Fees shall be established by rule or regulation promulgated in accordance with the Wyoming Administrative Procedure Act;
(ii) Fees shall be established in an amount sufficient to recoup the department's cost of providing the laboratory testing services.
(b) The department shall only charge fees pursuant to this section if the department makes personnel available to testify in criminal trials as to the department's laboratory testing results.
(c) Fees collected by the department pursuant to this section shall be credited to a special revenue account. No funds shall be expended from the special revenue account unless and until the legislature appropriates the funds.
35-1-301. Definitions; establishment; participation by municipality in district department.
(a) For the purposes of this act, the word "municipality" shall mean and include any town, village or city of this state, and the word "district" shall mean and include any combination of said towns, villages, cities and counties of this state.
(b) Any county, municipality, or district may, by resolution of the board of county commissioners or municipal governing body or by a majority of the votes cast by the qualified electors of such county, municipality, or district, establish and maintain a county, municipal, or district health department.
(c) Any two (2) or more adjacent counties may, by resolutions of the boards of county commissioners or by a majority of the votes cast by the qualified electors establish and maintain a district health department.
(d) Any municipality within a health department district may, by resolution of the municipal governing body or by a majority of the votes cast by the qualified electors of such municipality, participate in such a district health department.
35-1-302. Organization of units; membership of boards; removal.
(a) Within thirty (30) days after the adoption of a resolution or resolutions to establish and maintain a county and/or city or district health department, the board or boards of county commissioners and/or city governing body, as the case may be, shall proceed to organize such a department by the appointment of a county and/or city or district board of health, hereinafter referred to as the board.
(b) Each county and/or city board of health shall consist of five (5) members, all of whom shall be qualified electors of the county in which they serve, and one (1) shall have the degree of doctor of medicine and one (1) shall have the degree of doctor of dental surgery when available in said county. One (1) member of the board to be appointed for one (1) year; one (1) for two (2) years; one (1) for three (3) years, one (1) for four (4) years; and one (1) for five (5) years. Thereafter appointments for full term shall be for five (5) years. Vacancies for unexpired terms shall be filled by appointment by the board of county commissioners and/or city governing body.
(c) The number of members on the district board shall be at least equal to the number of participating political subdivisions; each participating political subdivision shall have at least one (1) representative on the board; the board shall not have less than seven (7) members; at least one (1) member of the board shall have the degree of doctor of medicine and at least one (1) member shall have the degree of doctor of dental surgery. For the original board, one (1) member shall be appointed for a term of one (1) year, two (2) for a term of two (2) years, two (2) for three (3) years, two (2) for four (4) years. Thereafter, each appointment shall be for a term of four (4) years. The district board of health shall be appointed by a committee composed of one (1) member of each of the boards of county commissioners of the counties comprising the district.
(d) Meetings of the board shall be held quarterly at such place as is designated by the board and at such other time as may be desirable upon call by the county and/or city or district health officer. Members of the board shall serve without compensation, but shall be entitled to payment for travel and other necessary expense incurred while attending meetings of the board.
(e) The governing body which appointed the member of the board may remove that member of the board for cause without a public hearing unless the member requests that the action be taken during a public hearing. Vacancies on the board shall be filled by the governing body for the balance of the unexpired term created by the vacancy.
(a) County and/or city and district boards of health may enact rules and regulations pertaining to the prevention of disease and the promotion of public health in the area over which such respective boards have jurisdiction. But in no instance shall such rules and regulations be less effective than, or in conflict with, rules and regulations promulgated by the state department of health. The district and/or city health officers shall have all powers vested by law in county health officers.
(b) The jurisdiction of the county and/or city or district health department shall extend over all unincorporated areas and over all municipalities within the territorial limits of the county or counties comprising the district except municipalities of Class I may maintain their own health departments. However, any municipalities of Class I may merge its health services with that of the county or district in which such city is located.
35-1-304. Treasurer designated; fund to be created;
composition and use of fund; preparation and submission of budget; tax levy authorized.
(a) In the case of a county and/or city health department, the county and/or city treasurer, as a part of his official duties as county and/or city treasurer, shall serve as treasurer of the department, and his official bond as county and/or city treasurer shall extend to and cover his duties as treasurer of the department. In the case of a district health department, the county treasurer of the county in the district having the largest population, as a part of his official duties as county treasurer, shall serve as treasurer of the district department and his official bond as county treasurer shall extend to and cover his duties as treasurer of the department.
(b) The treasurer of a county and/or city or district health department shall, upon organization of the department, create a county and/or city or district health department fund to which shall be credited:
(i) Any moneys that may be appropriated from the general county fund or funds;
(ii) Any moneys received from state, federal or other grants or donations for local health purposes;
(iii) Any moneys received from mill levies authorized by this act.
(c) Any moneys credited to said fund shall be expended only for maintenance and operation of the department and claims or demands against said fund shall be allowed upon certification by the health officer or a designated member of the board of health.
(d) A county and/or city board of health shall, annually before April 1st of each year, estimate the total cost of maintaining the department for the ensuing fiscal year, and the amount of moneys that may be available from unexpended surpluses or from state or federal grants or other grants or donations. The estimates shall be submitted in the form of a budget to the board of county commissioners and/or city governing body and the board shall provide any moneys necessary over estimated moneys from surpluses, grants and donations to cover the total cost of maintaining the department for the ensuing fiscal year. If the city has chosen to have a biennial budget pursuant to W.S. 16-4-104(h), then the city board of health shall submit their budget to the city on April 1 of every other year in accordance with the city budget.
(e) A district board of health shall, annually before April 1st of each year, estimate the total cost of maintaining and operating the department for the ensuing fiscal year and the amount of monies that may be available from unexpended surpluses or from state or federal grants or other grants or donations. The estimates shall be submitted in the form of a budget to a committee composed of the chairmen of the boards of county commissioners and/or city governing body of all counties and/or cities comprising the district. The cost of maintaining and operating the department, over estimated monies from surpluses, grants or donations, shall be apportioned by the committee among the counties comprising the district on a basis of population of each participating county in proportion to the total population of all counties comprising the district. The boards of county commissioners of the respective counties shall provide any monies necessary to cover the proportionate share of their county. If the cities in the district have chosen to have a biennial budget pursuant to W.S. 16-4-104(h), then the district board of health shall submit their budget to the cities on April 1 of every other year in accordance with the cities' budget. If all the cities in the district are not on the same budget schedule, the district shall still submit a biennial budget. However, for those cities who budget annually, they shall appropriate an annual amount.
(f) A tax levy may be made by the board of county commissioners specifically for the public health purposes on assessed valuation.
35-1-305. Appointment of health officers and other
personnel generally; local board of health may fix fees for certain services.
(a) In the counties, municipalities or districts where health departments are created, as provided herein, the local board of health may appoint a full-time or part-time health officer, deputy health officers, public health nurses, sanitarians, environmental health specialists and such other public health personnel as may be deemed necessary to adequately protect the public health. Any full-time or part-time health officer shall have a degree of doctor of medicine, be an advanced practice registered nurse as defined in W.S. 33-21-120(a)(i) or be a physician assistant as defined in W.S. 33-26-501(a)(iii). A full-time or part-time health officer appointed under this section shall assist the state department of health in carrying out the provisions of all health and sanitary laws and regulations of the state and shall complete continuing education in public health as directed by the local board of health. Subject to subsection (c) of this section, the local board of health may fix reasonable fees and charges for services, except for follow-up of communicable diseases and for individuals who receive services under the public health nursing infant home visitation subprogram created by W.S. 35-27-102. No person shall be denied necessary nursing services within the limits of available personnel because of an inability to pay the cost of such services.
(b) All moneys collected hereunder shall be paid directly to the city or county treasurer and placed in the corresponding health department fund.
(c) Prior to the establishment of any fee under this section, the local board of health, the city council or the board of county commissioners, as appropriate, shall hold a public hearing after providing forty-five (45) days written notice of the hearing. No fee shall be imposed by the local board of health under this section without the prior approval of the city council or the board of county commissioners, as appropriate. No fee established under this section shall exceed five hundred dollars ($500.00).
personnel where departments not established; fees and charges for services; payment.
(a) In counties or municipalities where such departments are not established the boards of county commissioners or municipal governing body shall appoint the county or municipal health officer and other necessary personnel. The governing body of any combination of municipalities, counties, or municipalities and counties where such departments are not established may form a health district and appoint a district health officer thereof. The term of office for the county, municipal or district health officer shall be four (4) years unless sooner removed by the board of county commissioners, municipal or district governing body. The county, municipal or district health officer shall have a degree of doctor of medicine, be an advanced practice registered nurse as defined in W.S. 33-21-120(a)(i) or be a physician assistant as defined in W.S. 33-26-501(a)(iii). The county, municipal or district health officer shall assist the state department of health in carrying out the provisions of all health and sanitary laws and regulations of the state and shall complete continuing education in public health as directed by the local board of county commissioners, health district or municipal governing body.
(b) Each part-time county, municipal, or district health officer shall receive a minimum compensation of not less than twenty-five dollars ($25.00) per month and necessary travel expenses incurred while engaged in the duties of his office.
(c) There is hereby authorized to be appointed by the boards of county commissioners, municipal, or district governing bodies so desiring, a deputy health officer, public health nurses, sanitarians, and such other public health personnel as may be deemed necessary to adequately protect the public health to serve under the county, municipal or district health officer. Such deputy health officer shall have the same authority in his area as the health officer and shall be compensated at a maximum rate of two-thirds the salary paid to the health officer of the county, municipality or district.
(d) Each public health nurse, sanitarian, and such other professional public health personnel appointed under the provisions of this act shall meet the position specifications established by the state merit rule for such positions. Boards of county commissioners, municipal, or district governing bodies are authorized and empowered to make appropriations for the compensation and necessary expenses for such public health personnel from such unencumbered funds as may be available. Said boards shall have the power to set all salaries for all personnel.
(e) Boards of county commissioners, municipal or district governing bodies may fix reasonable fees and charges for services, except for follow-up of communicable diseases and for individuals who receive services under the public health nursing infant home visitation subprogram created by W.S. 35-27-102. No person shall be denied necessary nursing services within the limits of available personnel because of an inability to pay the cost of such services.
(i) Repealed By Laws 2001, Ch. 127, § 2.
(ii) Repealed By Laws 2001, Ch. 127, § 2.
(iii) Repealed By Laws 2001, Ch. 127, § 2.
(iv) Repealed By Laws 2001, Ch. 127, § 2.
(v) Repealed By Laws 2001, Ch. 127, § 2.
(f) Payment, in whole or in part for such services may be accepted from any person. Payment of any charges due may be accepted from a local county, state or federal public assistance agency or any combination thereof; or from any individual, governmental agency, or corporation, public or private, when such services are provided any person, including but not limited to a recipient of any type of social security aids administered by the federal or state governments, or a recipient of direct relief.
(g) All monies collected or appropriated hereunder shall be paid directly to the treasurer of the county, municipality or district, as the case may be, for credit to a county, municipal, or district health fund in the manner provided in W.S. 35-1-304, for county, municipal, and district health departments. Any monies credited to said fund shall be expended only for the compensation and necessary expenses for such public health personnel and claims or demand against said fund shall be allowed upon certification by the health officer or a designated member of the governing board.
Any county and/or city or district health department may be dissolved and discontinued by resolution of the board of county commissioners and/or city governing body of a county and/or city maintaining a county and/or city health department, or by resolutions of the boards of county commissioners and/or city governing board of the counties and/or cities maintaining a district health department; provided, however, that no department shall be dissolved within the two (2) year period following the date of its establishment. Within ninety (90) days after the passage of a resolution or resolutions dissolving a department, the county and/or city or district board of health shall proceed to terminate the affairs of the department. After payment of all obligations, any moneys remaining in a county and/or city health department fund shall be credited to the general fund of the county and/or city, and any moneys remaining in a district health department fund shall be apportioned among the counties comprising the district in the same manner as the cost of maintaining the department was apportioned among the counties, and credited to their respective general funds. All other property of the county and/or city or district health department shall be disposed of as may be agreed upon by the county and/or city or district board of health.
35-1-309. Adjacent county without department becoming part of health district by agreement.
(a) Generally.-Any county adjacent to a district maintaining a district health department may become a part of such district by agreement between its board of county commissioners and the boards of county commissioners of the counties comprising the district. Any such county upon being accepted into the district, shall thereupon become subject to all the provisions of this act as though it were originally a part of the district.
(b) Withdrawing from districts.-Any county in a district may withdraw from the district by resolution of its board of county commissioners; provided, however, that no county may withdraw from a district within the two (2) year period following the establishment of the district or the county's becoming a part of the district, and then only after ninety (90) days written notice given to the department. In the event of withdrawal of a county from a district, any funds which had been appropriated by the county before withdrawal, to cover its proportionate share of maintaining the district, shall not be returned to the county withdrawing.
(a) No public health order requested or issued by a county, municipal or district health officer under this article shall become effective without notice being provided to the public not less than forty-eight (48) hours before the order is to become effective and an opportunity to provide public comment through written and electronic submissions is provided, except when the delay will result in immediate and life threatening physical harm, exposure or transmission beyond the existing affected area. Any order issued under this chapter by a county, municipal or district health officer that restricts individuals' movements or their ability to engage in any activity, that applies to individuals not under an isolation or quarantine order and that is designed to prevent or limit the transmission of a contagious or possibly contagious disease shall be effective for a period of not more than ten (10) days. Subsequent orders, including order extensions, for the same or substantially same purpose of any duration shall only be issued as follows:
(i) The board of county commissioners, by a vote of the majority of the board, may issue an order subsequent to an order issued by a county health officer;
(ii) The governing body of a municipality, by a vote of the majority of the governing body, may issue an order subsequent to an order issued by a municipal health officer;
(iii) The governing body of a political subdivision that is a member of a health district or a district health department, by a majority vote of the governing body, may issue an order subsequent to an order issued by a district health officer to have effect within the governing body's political subdivision only.
(b) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to limit a parent or guardian's right to the care, custody and control of a minor child under the care of the parent or guardian.
(c) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to limit a caregiver's right to the care, custody and control of a vulnerable adult.
(d) As used in this section:
(i) "Caregiver" means a family member responsible, or a person with court ordered responsibility, for the care, custody and control of a vulnerable adult;
(ii) "Vulnerable adult" means as defined in W.S. 35-20-102(a)(xviii).
(a) As used in this act:
(i) "Vital records" means records of birth, death, stillbirth, marriage, divorce and data relating thereto;
(ii) "System of vital records" includes the registration, collection, preservation, amendment, and certification of vital records and activities related thereto including the tabulation, analysis, and publication of statistical data derived from such records;
(iii) "Filing" means the presentation of a certificate, report, or other record of a birth, death, stillbirth, adoption, marriage, or divorce, for registration by vital records services;
(iv) "Registration" means the acceptance by vital records services and the incorporation in its official records of certificates, reports or other records of births, deaths, stillbirths, adoption, marriages, and divorces;
(v) "Live birth" means the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother or its gestational carrier of a fetus, which after such expulsion or extraction, breathes or shows any other evidence of life such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles, whether or not the umbilical cord has been cut or the placenta is attached;
(vi) "Stillbirth" means a birth after twenty (20) completed weeks gestation in which the child shows no evidence of life after complete birth;
(vii) "Dead body" means a lifeless human body, or such severed parts of the human body, or the bones thereof, from the state of which it reasonably may be concluded that death occurred;
(viii) "Final disposition" means the burial, interment, cremation, or other disposition of a dead body or stillbirth;
(ix) "Person in charge of interment" means any person who places or causes to be placed a deceased, stillbirth, or dead body, or after cremation the ashes thereof, in the earth, a grave, tomb, vault, urn or other receptacle, either in a cemetery or at any other place, or otherwise disposes of a body;
(x) "Physician" means a person authorized or licensed to practice medicine as provided in W.S. 33-26-101 through 33-26-601;
(xi) "Institution" means any establishment, public or private, which provides inpatient medical, surgical or diagnostic care or treatment, or nursing, custodial or domiciliary care to two (2) or more unrelated individuals, or to which persons are committed by law;
(xii) "Advanced practice registered nurse" means as provided in W.S. 33-21-120(a)(i);
(xiii) "Physician assistant" means as provided in W.S. 33-26-501(a)(iii);
(xiv) "Gestational agreement" means a written, notarized agreement between two (2) intended parents and a gestational carrier where:
(A) The gestational carrier agrees to pregnancy by means of assisted reproduction;
(B) The gestational carrier, and her spouse if she is married, agree to relinquish all rights and duties as the parent of any child that is delivered from the gestational carrier;
(C) The agreement specifies that the intended parents shall become the parents of the child;
(D) All parties to the agreement are twenty-one (21) years of age or older;
(E) The intended parents have been residents of the state of Wyoming for not less than one (1) year immediately preceding the date of the gestational agreement;
(F) The agreement is filed with the state registrar of vital records. Any agreement filed under this subparagraph shall be sealed and placed in a special file and may be opened only upon order of a court of competent jurisdiction or as otherwise provided by law;
(G) Compensation is limited to expenses related to prenatal care, delivery of the child and any other costs including the cost of lost opportunity that are directly connected to the pregnancy.
(xv) "Gestational carrier" means a woman twenty-one (21) years of age or older who gives birth to a child under a gestational agreement;
(xvi) "Intended parents" means two (2) persons who enter into a gestational agreement with a gestational carrier for the birth of a child for which the two (2) persons shall assume paternity or maternity.
The department of health shall establish a state office of vital records services, which shall install, maintain, and operate the system of vital records throughout this state.
(a) The state registrar shall:
(i) Make, promulgate and enforce all necessary rules and regulations for carrying out the purpose of this act;
(ii) Receive, index and statistically compile the returns of births, deaths, stillbirths, marriages and divorces from the entire state;
(iii) Prescribe and distribute such forms as are required by this act and the rules and regulations issued hereunder;
(iv) Direct, supervise and control the activities of local registrars and the activities of other local officials related to the operation of the vital records system and provide them with necessary postage;
(v) Submit to the governor an annual report of the administration of this act;
(vi) Keep a correct account of all fees received and turn the same over to the state treasurer as provided by law;
(vii) Delegate such functions and duties vested in him to officers and employees of the office of vital records services and to the local registrars as he deems necessary or expedient;
(viii) Investigate all of the cases of irregularity or violation of this act and any regulations.
The state registrar shall from time to time establish registration districts throughout the state. He may consolidate or subdivide such districts to facilitate registration.
35-1-406. Appointment and removal of local registrars and deputy local registrars.
(a) The state registrar shall appoint a local registrar and one or more deputy local registrars of vital records for each registration district. He may remove a local registrar or deputy local registrar for reasonable cause.
(b) Each person so appointed shall be notified in writing, setting forth the area for which he is responsible for promoting and supervising vital registration, and he shall inform the state registrar in writing of his acceptance of the appointment.
(a) Each local registration official shall serve as an agent of the state registrar in his district and shall:
(i) Register only births, stillbirths and deaths that occur in his district;
(ii) Examine certificates, record them in his register, numbering each in order of filing;
(iii) Issue burial and removal permits for properly filed death certificates;
(iv) Make prompt returns on or before the fifth day of each month to the state registrar or report that no births or deaths occurred in his district;
(v) See that the provisions of this act are enforced in his district and that all births, stillbirths and deaths that occur are fully registered and make prompt report to the state registrar of any case of failure or neglect to file certificates;
(vi) In accordance with regulations issued hereunder, the deputy local registrar shall perform the duties of the local registrar in the absence or incapacity of such local registrar and shall perform such other duties as may be prescribed by the state registrar.