Chap. 527.-An ACT to protect the public health and to this end to provide for
the regulation of sanitary conditions in certain establishments offering lodging
to the transient public, to require a safe water supply and adequate waste
disposal; to require the State Board of Health to enforce this law and
authorize the Board to make certain regulations therefor, to provide certain
penalties, and to provide for appeals from actions of the State Health Commis-
sioner; to amend and re-enact Sections 1585, 1589, 1590 and 1592, of the age
of Virginia as they have been severally amended, relating to inspection of
hotels and ers the same, and to repeal Sections 1594, 1595, 1596, 1598,
1600, 1601 and 1607-a of the Code of Virginia relating to ‘hotels, and tourist
camps and filling stations. {S 50

Approved April 6, 1948

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. Section 1. In order to promote the health, comfort, gen-
eral welfare and safety of the public, hotels, tourist camps, tourist
homes, motor courts and each and every establishment, by whatever
name known, hereinafter severally referred to as “establishments”,
offering lodging or sleeping accommodations to transient guests for pay,
shall be subject to inspection, regulation and control as hereinafter pro-
vided as regards cleanliness and general sanitation in and of such
establishment.

Section 2. Every establishment, including all facilities and furnish-
ings, shall be (a) maintained in a clean and orderly manner; (b)
provided with an approved method of sewage disposal and adequate
toilet facilities; (c) provided with an approved water supply; and
premises of such establishment shall be maintained in a clean and orderly
manner, and effective rodent, insect, and vermin control shall be provided.

Section 3. This law shall be enforced by the State Board of Health,
sue through the State Health Commissioner and his duly designated

cers.

Section 4. The State Board of Health is authorized and directed to
make all necessary rules and regulations as to sanitary conditions in
and about establishments subject to the provisions of this law in order
to protect the public health; the Board shall provide for the issuance of
permits, the revocation thereof, and the inspection of all such establish-
ments. The Board is also authorized to post sanitary ratings and grades
in such establishments. All such rules and regulations shall be furnished
without charge to any person requesting same and shall be given to
the person in charge of any establishment subject to this law. The Board
may alter, amend, or repeal any such rule or regulation.

Nothing contained in this act, however, shall in any way limit the
power of any city to prescribe by ordinance for the regulation of sanitary
conditions in establishments located therein.
Section 5. The State Health Commissioner and his authorized
agents shall be granted free access to any establishment subject to this
law during all reasonable hours for the purpose of making inspections
and to ascertain whether this law and the regulations issued hereunder
are being complied with.

Section 6. The operator of any establishment subject to this
law who fails or refuses to comply with the provisions of this act
and the regulations issued hereunder shall be guilty of a misdemeanor
and upon conviction be punished by a fine of not less than ten dollars,
nor more than one hundred dollars, or by revocation of the permit
under which such establishment is being operated, or by both such fine
and revocation.

Section 7. It shall be unlawful on and after January one, nineteen
hundred forty-nine to operate any establishment affected hereby without
a permit issued under this act.

Section 8. Whenever the State Health Commissioner through his.
agents finds that the provisions of this law and the regulations issued
hereunder have been or are being violated as to any establishment he
may revoke the permit of such establishment; in such case, a written
statement signed by the agent making the inspection, giving the reasons
for such revocation, shall be handed or mailed to the operator of such
establishment, by the State Health Commissioner or his designated
agent. Any person denied a permit or whose permit has been revoked
for cause may appeal the Commissioner’s action. The appeal shall be
heard de novo by the circuit court of the county or corporation court
of the city in which the alleged violation occurred or by the judge thereof
in vacation.

2. That sections fifteen hundred eighty-five, fifteen hundred eighty-
nine, fifteen hundred ninety, and fifteen hundred ninety-two, all as
amended, of the Code of Virginia, be amended and reenacted as follows:

Section 1585. Definition—A hotel within the meaning of this
chapter is any inn or: public lodging house where transient guests are
lodged for pay in this State.

Section 1589. Inspection by the State Board of Health—For the
purpose of carrying out the provisions of this chapter, the State Board
of Health is authorized and required to inspect, through its officers and
agents, all hotels in the State at least once every year, and as often there-
after during the year as may be deemed necessary. It shall see that every
part of said hotel and immediate surroundings are sanitary, and that
all utensils used in the hotel, particularly those used in the preparation
and serving of food, are in all respects clean.

Section 1590. Duty of State Board of Health; certificate posted ;
inspected.—It shall be the duty of the State Board of Health to see
that all of the provisions of this chapter are enforced and complied with.

Section 1592. State Board of Health to notify owners, et cetera,
of a hotel that it fails to comply with the law.—lIt shall be the duty of
the State Board of Health upon ascertaining by inspection or otherwise
that any hotel is being carried on contrary to any of the provisions of
law governing sanitary conditions therein to notify the manager, or
proprietor, in writing, in what respect it fails to comply with the law,
and requiring such person, within a reasonable time, to be fixed by the
State Board of Health, to do or cause to be done the things necessary
to make it comply with the law, whereupon such proprietor or manager
shall forthwith comply with such requirements.

3. That sections fifteen hundred ninety-four, fifteen hundred ninety-
five, fifteen hundred ninety-six, fifteen hundred ninety-eight, sixteen
hundred, sixteen hundred one, sixteen hundred seven-a, of the Code of
Virginia, be and they hereby are, repealed.