Chap. 361.—An ACT to amend and-re-enact sections 1, 2, 3 and 4 of an act
entitled: An act providing for the appointment of a State board of health
and of local board of health, defining the duties and powers and compen-
sation 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 subpenas issued by said State board of health,
or any authorized member thereof, for refusing to testify or otherwise acting
in contempt of said State board or its duly authorized members. approved
Mareh 7, 1900 (section 1713-d Code of 1904); to repeal sections 1714, 1715,
1716, 1717 and 1718 of the Code of Virginia 1887, and all other acts and parts
of acts in conflict: herewith; to provide for the appointment of a health com-
missioner. and assistants, to define their duties, to provide for their compensa-
tion and to appropriate money to carry the provisions of this act into effect.

‘Approved March 14, 1908.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sections
one, two, three and four of 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 so forth, approved March
seventh, nineteen hundred, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as
follows:
§1. That on and after the first day of July, nineteen hundred and
eight, the State board of health shall consist of twelve members appointed
by the governor, who shall be members of the State medical society,
one of whom shall be chosen from each congressional district in the State,
and in addition thereto, two from the city of Richmond. These mem-
bers shall hold office for the period one, two, three and four years,
respectively, as may be determined by lot after their appointment, and
thereafter there shall be annually appointed three members to serve
for the term of four years, respectively. The board shall meet semi-
annually in the city of Richmond during the months of January and
July of each year, and at such other times and places as they may de-
termine. ‘They shall elect from their number a president and secre-
tary, who shall perform the usual duties of such offices, in addition to
the particular duties prescribed by law. The board may adopt by-laws
for their government and may make such rules and regulations not
inconsistent with law as they may deem proper. Five members shall
constitute a quorum for the transaction of any lawful business.

§2. The governor shall appoint a health commissioner, who shall be
versed in bacteriology and sanitary science, and otherwise fitted and
equipped to execute the duties incumbent upon him by law. The-health
commissioner shall be the executive officer of the State board of health,
but shall not be a member thereof. He shall hold office for the term
of four years, unless sooner removed by the governor, and he shall reside
and have his headquarters in the city of Richmond. The commissioner
shall perform such duties as the State board of health may require, in
addition to the other duties required of him by law. He shall be
vested with all the authority of the board, when it is not in session and
subject to such rules and regulations as may he prescribed by the board.
It shall be his duty to institute, and, together with his assistants,
to carry out such a course of lectures and demonstrations as he may
deem advisable in various sections of the State, and in the State edu-.
cational institutions, to the end that the medical profession and the
people of the Commonwealth may be instructed in matters of hygiene
and sanitation. It shall be the duty of the health commissioner when-
ever required so to do, to furnish to the governor and to the general
assembly, when in session, such information as may from time to time
be required, and he shall make an annual report to the governor of
all expenditures made by the State board of health and by himself and
of persons under him.

§3. The health commissioner with the approval of the State board of
health, shall appoint an assistant commissioner, a skilled bacteriologist,
and a clerk. The health commissioner shall receive a salary of thirty-
five hundred dollars per annum; assistant commissioner, a salary of
twenty-five hundred dollars per annum; bacteriologist, a salary of
twenty-five hundred dollars per annum; and a clerk, a salary of twelve
hundred dollars per annum. Other clerks and assistants may be ap-
pointed by the health commissioner, subject to the approval of the State
board of health. All officers appointed by the health commissioner, shall
be primarily responsible to him and may be removed by him for good
cause.
§4. The State board of health shall receive no salary, but each member
shall be paid a per diem of eight dollars for the time actually engaged
in the discharge of his duties, together with mileage as prescribed by
law. The State board of health shall establish and maintain in the city
of Richmond, suitable laboratories for the examination of clinical ma-
terial submitted by members of the medical profession of the State, and
such examination shall be made free of charge, and said board shall
also make research and studies of infectious diseases of epidemics, and
of methods of preventing and of curing diseases. hey shall forthwith
make inquiry into the altitude, moisture and other climatic conditions
in various parts of the State, with a view to determining the most
suitable location therein, for the treatment of tuberculosis, and the es-
tablishment of tubercolosis sanitariums, and shall investigate the best
methods of treatment, with a view to preventing and curing such
disease.

It shall be duty of the State board of health as soon as practicable
to begin the erection and maintenance of temporary or permanent build-
ings or camps for the treatment of tuberculosis in such localities as
are proper, and at such sanitariums they shall provide for the treat-
ment by the most advanced methods, of the tuberculosis patients in the
State at a minimum expense to the patient.

For the purpose of providing for the execution of the provisions of this
act, and to meet the expenses herein provided for in the way of salaries
per diem, compensation, mileage allowance, office and laboratory ex-
penses and the establishment of laboratories and sanitariums, an ap-
propriation of forty thousand dollars per year is hereby set apart out
of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, which shall
be paid out upon the warrants of the health commissioner, approved by
the president of the State board of health.

2. That sections seventeen hundred and fourteen, seventeen hundred
and fifteen, seventeen hundred and sixteen, seventeen hundred and
seventeen, and seventeen hundred and eighteen, of the Code of Virginia,
eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, and all other acts and parts of acts
in conflict herewith, be, and the same are hereby repealed.