GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
1991 SESSION

CHAPTER 548
HOUSE BILL 183

AN ACT TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT, HEALTH, AND NATURAL RESOURCES TO CONDUCT VARIOUS HEALTH-RELATED PROJECTS.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  (a) The Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources shall do the following to improve the State public health system:
(1)	Develop and conduct activities designed to expand the Department's capability and the capability of local health departments or districts to secure private sector financial resources to supplement public health activities and services mandated by the State.
(2)	Develop a plan for the establishment of a statewide system for assessing health status and health needs in every county. In determining community health status and needs, the Department shall solicit and consider input from private providers, community groups and agencies, the general public, and policy makers.
(3)	Plan for the development and implementation of a computerized statewide data collection and retrieval system that will permit comparisons of health data and indices, and that will enable local health departments to have access to data collected.  In developing the plan the Department shall consider recommendations in the 1989-90 Public Health Study Commission's final report pertaining to standardization, adaptability, and costs of integrating local data collection systems with the State system.
(4)	Implement a monitoring and evaluation program to measure local health department progress in applying health outcome standards and achieving health outcome objectives established by the Commission for Health Services under G.S. 130A-29(c)(7).  The Department shall conduct monitoring and evaluation on a regularly scheduled basis, and shall provide assistance to local health departments that are having difficulty meeting objectives.
(b)	The Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources shall report to the North Carolina Public Health Study Commission, if the Commission is established by the General Assembly, on the status of each project in subsection (a) of this section.  The Department shall report to the Commission at the Commission's request.  If the General Assembly does not establish the North Carolina Study Commission on Public Health, then the Department shall report the status of the project activity required under subsection (a) to the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations in March, 1992.
Sec. 2.  G.S. 130A-29 reads as rewritten:
"§ 130A-29. Commission for Health Services – creation, powers and duties.
(a)	The Commission for Health Services is created with the authority and duty to adopt rules to protect and promote the public health.
(b)	The Commission is authorized to adopt rules necessary to implement the public health programs administered by the Department as provided in this Chapter.
(c)	The Commission shall adopt rules:
(1)	Repealed by Session Laws 1983 (Regular Session, 1984), c. 1022, s. 5.
(2)	Establishing standards for approving sewage-treatment devices and holding tanks for marine toilets as provided in G.S. 75A-6(o);
(3)	Establishing specifications for sanitary privies for schools where water-carried sewage facilities are unavailable as provided in G.S. 115C-522;
(4)	Establishing requirements for the sanitation of local confinement facilities as provided in Part 2 of Article 10 of Chapter 153A of the General Statutes; 
(5)	Repealed by Session Laws 1989 (Regular Session, 1990), c. 1075, s. 1, effective July 28, 1990.
(6)	Requiring proper treatment and disposal of sewage and other waste from chemical and portable toilets; and
(7)	Establishing statewide health outcome objectives and delivery standards.
(d)	The Commission is authorized to create:
(1)	Metropolitan water districts as provided in G.S. 162A-33;
(2)	Sanitary districts as provided in Part 2 of Article 2 of this Chapter; and
(3)	Mosquito control districts as provided in Part 2 of Article 12 of this Chapter.
(e)	Rules adopted by the Commission for Health Services shall be enforced by the Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources."
Sec. 3.  This act is effective upon ratification.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 4th day of July, 1991.

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James C. Gardner
President of the Senate

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Daniel Blue, Jr.
Speaker of the House of Representatives