Washington · statute · Wash. Rev. Code ch. 70.05 · 28 active provisions
For the purposes of chapters 70.05 and 70.46 RCW and unless the context thereof clearly indicates to the contrary:(1) "Local health departments" means the county or district which provides public health services to persons within the area.(2) "Local health officer" means the legally qualified physician who has been app…
(1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, for counties without a home rule charter, the board of county commissioners and the members selected under (a) and (e) of this subsection, shall constitute the local board of health, unless the county is part of a health district pursuant to chapter 70.46 RCW. F…
(1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, for home rule charter counties, the county legislative authority shall establish a local board of health and may prescribe the membership and selection process for the board. The membership of the local board of health must also include the members selected unde…
The local board of health shall elect a chair and may appoint an administrative officer. A local health officer shall be appointed pursuant to RCW 70.05.050. Vacancies on the local board of health shall be filled by appointment within thirty days and made in the same manner as was the original appointment. At the first…
The administrative officer shall act as executive secretary and administrative officer for the local board of health, and shall be responsible for administering the operations of the board including such other administrative duties required by the local health board, except for duties assigned to the health officer as…
The local health officer shall be an experienced physician licensed to practice medicine and surgery or osteopathic medicine and surgery in this state and who is qualified or provisionally qualified in accordance with the standards prescribed in RCW 70.05.051 through 70.05.055 to hold the office of local health officer…
The following persons holding licenses as required by RCW 70.05.050 shall be deemed qualified to hold the position of local health officer:(1) Persons holding the degree of master of public health or its equivalent;(2) Persons not meeting the requirements of subsection (1) of this section, who upon August 11, 1969 are…
A person holding a license required by RCW 70.05.050 but not meeting any of the requirements for qualification prescribed by RCW 70.05.051 may be appointed by the board or official responsible for appointing the local health officer under RCW 70.05.050 as a provisionally qualified local health officer for a maximum per…
The secretary of health shall provide an in-service public health orientation program for the benefit of provisionally qualified local health officers.Such program shall consist of—(1) A three months course in public health training conducted by the secretary either in the state department of health, in a county and/or…
Each year, on a date which shall be as near as possible to the anniversary date of appointment as provisional local health officer, the secretary of health or his or her designee shall personally visit such provisional officer's office for a personal review and discussion of the activity, plans, and study being carried…
Each local board of health shall have supervision over all matters pertaining to the preservation of the life and health of the people within its jurisdiction and shall:(1) Enforce through the local health officer or the administrative officer appointed under RCW 70.05.040, if any, the public health statutes of the sta…
The local health officer, acting under the direction of the local board of health or under direction of the administrative officer appointed under RCW 70.05.040 or 70.05.035, if any, shall:(1) Enforce the public health statutes of the state, rules of the state board of health and the secretary of health, and all local…
The local health officer may grant a waiver from specific requirements adopted by the state board of health for on-site sewage systems if:(1) The on-site sewage system for which a waiver is requested is for sewage flows under three thousand five hundred gallons per day;(2) The waiver request is evaluated by the local h…
(1) The local health officer must respond to the applicant for an on-site sewage system permit within thirty days after receiving a fully completed application. The local health officer must respond that the application is either approved, denied, or pending.(2) If the local health officer denies an application to inst…
(1) The department of health, in consultation and cooperation with local environmental health officers, shall develop a one-day course to train local environmental health officers, health officers, and environmental health specialists and technicians to address the application of the waiver authority granted under RCW…
If the local board of health or other official responsible for appointing a local health officer under RCW 70.05.050 refuses or neglects to appoint a local health officer after a vacancy exists, the secretary of health may appoint a local health officer and fix the compensation. The local health officer so appointed sh…
Whenever any physician shall attend any person sick with any dangerous contagious or infectious disease, or with any diseases required by the state board of health to be reported, he or she shall, within twenty-four hours, give notice thereof to the local health officer within whose jurisdiction such sick person may th…
In case of the question arising as to whether or not any person is affected or is sick with a dangerous, contagious or infectious disease, the opinion of the local health officer shall prevail until the state department of health can be notified, and then the opinion of the executive officer of the state department of…
It shall be the duty of the local board of health, health authorities or officials, and of physicians in localities where there are no local health authorities or officials, to report to the state board of health, promptly upon discovery thereof, the existence of any one of the following diseases which may come under t…
(1) Any local health officer or administrative officer appointed under RCW 70.05.040, if any, who shall refuse or neglect to obey or enforce the provisions of chapters 70.05, 70.24, and 70.46 RCW or the rules, regulations or orders of the state board of health or who shall refuse or neglect to make prompt and accurate…
All expenses incurred by the state, health district, or county in carrying out the provisions of chapters 70.05 and 70.46 RCW or any other public health law, or the rules of the department of health enacted under such laws, shall be paid by the county and such expenses shall constitute a claim against the general fund…
In addition to powers already granted them, any county, district, or local health department may contract for either the sale or purchase of any or all health services from any local health department.
A local board of health that adopts a moratorium affecting water hookups, sewer hookups, or septic systems without holding a public hearing on the proposed moratorium, shall hold a public hearing on the adopted moratorium within at least sixty days of its adoption. If the board does not adopt findings of fact justifyin…
(1)(a) The legislature finds that the mortality rate in Washington state among infants and children less than 19 years of age is unacceptably high, and that such mortality may be preventable. The legislature further finds that, through the performance of child fatality reviews, preventable causes of child mortality can…
A person rendering emergency care or transportation, commonly known as a "Good Samaritan," as described in RCW 4.24.300 and 4.24.310, may request and receive appropriate infectious disease testing free of charge from the local health department of the county of her or his residence, if: (1) While rendering emergency ca…