Chap. 1146.—An ACT providing for the appointment of a state board of
health, and of local boards of health, defining the duties and powers and
compensation thereof, and of their members, officers, and agents, in connec-
tion with the preservation of public health, and prescribing penalties
against witnesses failing to obey subpoenas issued by said state board of
health, or any authorized member thereof, for refusing to testify, or other-
Wise acting in contempt of said state board or its duly authorized members.

Approved March 7, 1900. .

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That there shall
be a state board of health, consisting of seven members, who shall be
appointed by the governor upon the recommendation of the medical
society of Virginia, who shall hold office for the term of four years
from the first day of January, nineteen hundred and one. The said
medical society of Virginia shall nominate the aforesaid members of
the state board of health by the tenth day of December, nineteen
hundred, and by the tenth day of December in each fourth vear there-
after, and the governor shall make the first appointment under this act
between the tenth day of December, nineteen hundred, and the first
dav of January, nineteen hundred and one, and shall thereafter make
appomtment of their suecessors upon such recommendation by the said
medical society of Virginia between the tenth day of December and the
first dav of January in each fourth year thereafter. All vacancies
occurring under this act by death or otherwise shall be filled by nomi-
nations to the governor by the state board of health for the unexpired
term or terms; provided, however, that in the event of the failure of
the said medical society of Virginia to nominate the aforesaid members
of the state board of health by the tenth day of December in any vear
above required or in the event of the failure of the said state board of
health to nominate successors for the vacancies as provided for above
within three months after such vacancy occurs, the governor of Virginia
may proceed to appoint and commission any reputable physician or
physicians for the full term or terms to fill any vacancy for unexpired
term or terms as may exist, without regard to any nominations which
the said medical society of Virginia or the said state board of health
may thereafter make.

2. The state board of health shall meet at the capital of the
state semi-annually during the months of January and July, and at such
other times and places as the board itself or the president may direct.
Four members shall constitute a quorum. They shall eleet from their
own number a president and a permanent secretary. The secretary shall
reside at the capital of the state, and shall be the executive ofticer of
the board. The salary of the seeretary shall be fixed by the board. The
other members of the board shall receive no salary, but shall be paid
the sum of four dollars per day while engaged in the discharge of their
duties and their travelling expenses incurred while so employed. The
expenses of the state board of health, which shall not in one vear exceed
the sum of five thousand dollars, shall be paid by warrants drawn upon
the auditor of public accounts, signed by the president of said board,
and countersigned bv the secretary, out of any money in the treasury
not otherwise appropriated.

3. The secretary shall perform such duties as the board mav require.
As executive officer of the board, he shall he vested with all the au-
thority of the board according to its rules and regulations as hereinafter
provided. He shall furnish to the governor, or the general assembly
when in session, such information as from time to time may be required.

4. The board shall take cognizance of the interests of the health
and life of the people of the state, and all matters pertaining thereto.
It shall make inquiries in respect to the causes of disease, especially
epidemics, including those of domestic animals, and investigate the
sources of mortality and the effect upon the public health of localities,
employments, and other conditions. It shall obtain, collect, and pre-
serve such information relating to mortality, disease, and health as
may be useful in the discharge of its duties, or may contribute to the
promotion of health, or the security of life in the state. The board,
or any member or members thereof authorized by this order, special or
general, may issue subpoenas for witnesses, compel their attendance,
administer oaths, and compel them to testify in anv matter or pro-
ceedings before it, and the witness may be required to attend and
give testimony in a county, city, or town where he resides or has a
place of business without the payment of anv fees. Anv witness failing
to obey such subpoena or refusing to testify, or otherwise acting in
contempt of said board or its duly authorized member or members.
shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof
shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty nor more than one
hundred dollars, and imprisonment for not exeeeding six months, or
by either such fine or imprisonment. The state board of health may
annul or modify an order, regulation, by-law, or ordinance of. local
health authorities concerning a matter which in its judgment affects the
public health beyond the territory over which the said local health
authorities have jurisdiction. The board shall act as an advisory hoard
to the state in all hygienic and medical matters, especially to such as
relate to the location, construction, sewerage, and administration of
prisons, hospitals, asylums, and other public institutions.

5. The judge of each county or corporation court shall, upon the
recommendation of the medical society of said county or corporation,
if there be one, biennially appoint three regularly licensed physicians
of the county or corporation, who shall, with the clerk of the county
or corporation court and the chairman of the board of supervisors or
the mayor of the corporation, as the case may be, constitute a county
or city board of health: provided, however, that where the charter of
any city or town already provides for the creation of a board of health
the provisions of this section of this act shall not apply. The chairman
of the board of supervisors shall act as the president of the county
board of health and the mavor as the president of the board of health
of such city or town. Each such local board of health shall elect from
its members a secretarv, who shall be a physician, and who shall serve
for two years, or until his successor is appointed, but who may be re-
moved for cause by a majority vote of the board. Such local boards
of health shall have charge of the sanitary affairs of the respective
cities, counties, or towns for which they are appointed, and shall,
subject to the provisions of this act, have control of the prevention and
eradication of contagious and infectious diseases, the removal and quar-
antine of suspects; mav provide for compulsory vaccination, the pre-
vention, restriction, and care of small-pox and other contagious or
infections diseases, and shall, with the consent of the board of super-
visors of the county or the council of the city or town, as the case may
be, fix the compensation for the officers or agents employed in discharg-
ing such duties, and shall see to the abatement of nuisances, and the
collection, as may he required by the state board of health, of vital
statistics. They shall likewise have power to adopt and enforce such
reasonable rules and regulations as they may deem necessary to attain
these ends.

6. If anv city or county authorized bv law to appoint a local board of
health or health officer shall omit to do so, the state board of health
may exercise the authority and perform the duties of such local hoard
for such city, appoint a health officer for such county, until such locai
board of health be established or such health officer be regularly ap-
pointed, whereupon the jurisdiction of the state board of health, or its
officer, conferred by this section, shall cease. The compensation of all
officers and agents appointed bv the state board of health under this
and section seven of this act. and the expenses incurred by them and
by the state board in fulfilling the duties imposed by this and said
section seven, shall be a charge upon and be paid by the city, town, or
county over which said officers are appointed, or in reference to which
such expenses are incurred.

7. It shall be the dutv of the local health authorities of the cities,
towns, and counties of the state to report monthlv to the state board
of health all cases of infectious or contagious diseases which have
occurred under their jurisdiction, except that it shall be their duty to
report immediately any case or cases of small-pox, vellow-fever, cholera,
tvphus-fever, or bubome plague that may oecur within their respective
jurisdictions. If any case or cases of small-pox, vellow-fever, cholera,
typhus-fever, or bubonic plague be reported as existing in any locality
in the state, the state board of health shall, as soon as possible, investi-
gate said disease. It shall then confer with the local health authorities
and make such suggestions as it may deem proper. If these suggestions
are not carried out, and the disease is, in the judgment of the state
board of health, in danger of spreading to another city, town, or county,
the said state board of health, or its executive officer, subject to the
action of said board, shall have the right to assume exclusive control of
the disease, the isolation thereof, and the quarantine of suspects, and
have such powers in connection therewith as are conferred by law on the
local health authorities, and the said executive officer may make and
enforce such regulations as he may deem proper, subject to the action
of said board, to stamp out or prevent the further spread of the disease.
He may also, subject to the action of said board, appoint such officers
and agents as he may deem necessary to accomplish such end and fix
their duties and compensation. The oflicers and agents so appointed
shall be duly sworn, and shall have the power to make arrests and to
exercise all the other powers of police or constables. All the powers
herein conferred upon the secretary shall be exercised by him in subor-
dination to and subject to the action of the state board itself, which is
hereby invested with full power in the premises to make such regula-
tions and take such action as may in its judgment be necessary to
regulate, control, and eradicate all such contagious disease.

8. The secretary of such local board of health shall act as executive
or health officer for the city, town, or county, and as such shall have
power to enter and inspect both public and private premises where
he has reason to suppose any nuisance or any contagious or infectious
disease exists, when the protection of public health demands it. He
shall collect and preserve such vital statistics, including marriages,
deaths, and births, as may be required of him by the state board
of health, and shall execute and enforce the orders of the local board
of which he is the executive officer. He shall receive such compensation
as the board of supervisors of the county, or the council of the city
or town may deem proper.

9. The state board of health from time to time may employ compe-
tent persons to render sanitary service and make or supervise practical
and scientific examinations and investigations requiring expert skill,
and prepare pans and reports relative thereto. The state board, on
the request of anv physician, shall have examinations made of patholog-
ical specimens of any suspected infectious or contagious disease that
mav be prevailing.

10. Upon satisfactory information of the approach to, or transit
through the commonwealth of Virginia, of infected persons, goods, or
animals, it shall be the duty of the secretary of the state board,
as executive officer of said board, to cause the same to be stopped at the
state line, or, if found within the limits of the state, to cause such
persons, goods, or animals to be removed from the cars, stages, vessels,
boats, or conveyances, and securely isolated and disinfected, except that
he shall have no right to act under the jurisdiction of municipal health
authorities or of the state quarantine board, unless, in his judgment,
such authorities or the state quarantine board have failed, or are
neglecting to take proper steps for the protection of the public health
but any ‘action he may take in the matter shall be subject to the
supervision and control of the state board of health.

The state board of health may require any local board of healt
to furnish periodically to said state board such facts connected with
vital statistics in its city, county, or town as said state board of healtt
may prescribe.

12. The state board of health shall annually, on or before the first
day of January in each year, make a written report to the governor
upon the vital statistics and sanitary conditions and prospects of the
state. Such report shall set forth the action of the board and its
officers and agents, a detailed statement of all moneys paid out by
or on account of the board, and the manner of its expenditure during
the year, and other useful information. The board shall, at each
regular session of the general assembly, suggest any further legislative
action deemed necessary for the better protection of life and health.

13. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act are hereby
repealed.

14. This act shall be in force from its passage.