city of New York or any portion thereof, and every provision of the sanitary code shall apply to and be effective, in all portions of the state except the city of New York unless stated otherwise. amended. § 4. Section two-c of such chapter, as last amended by chapter § 2c four hundred and ninety-three of the laws of nineteen hundred and twenty-three, is hereby amended to read as follows: § 2-c. Enforcement of sanitary code. The provisions of the sanitary code shall, as to matters to which it relates, and in the territory prescribed therefor by the public health council, supersede all local ordinances heretofore or hereafter enacted inconsistent therewith. Each city, town or village may, in the manner hereinafter prescribed, enact sanitary regulations not inconsistent with the sanitary code established by the public health council. The public health council shall have power, subject to approval by the commissioner of health, to prescribe by regulations the qualifications of directors of divisions, district state health officers, local health officers hereafter appointed and public health nurses. The actions, proceedings and authority of the state health department in enforcing the provisions of the public health law. and sanitary code applying them to specific cases shall at all times be regarded as in their nature judicial, and shall be treated as prima facie just and legal. All meetings of said public health council shall in every suit and proceeding be taken to have been duly called and regularly held, and all regulations and proceedings to have been duly authorized unless the contrary be proved. The public health council shall have no executive, administrative. or appointive duties. It shall, at the request of the commissioner of health, consider any matter relating to the preservation and improvement of public health, and may advise the commissioner thereon; and it may from time to time submit to the commissioner any recommendations which it may deem wise. 85. Section three of such chapter, as last amended by chapter 3 four hundred and eighty-five of the laws of nineteen hundred and amended. twenty-three, is hereby amended to read as follows: § 3. Compensation of officers and employees. The commissioner of health shall receive an annual salary of twelve thousand dollars, and his expenses actually and necessarily incurred in the per-. formance of his official duties, to be paid monthly on the audit. of the comptroller. The commissioner of health shall appoint such assistants as are necessary for the proper performance of the, powers and duties of the department, and fix their compensation within the amount appropriated therefor by the legislature. He shall fix, in the same manner, the compensation of the deputy. commissioner. amended, § 6. Section three-a of such chapter, as last amended by chapter 32 four hundred and two of the laws of nineteen hundred and twentytwo, is hereby amended to read as follows: 4 Section 20 was added by L. 1913, ch. 559. Previously amended by L. 1913, ch. 559; L. 1919, ch. 541. Section 3a was added by L. 1913, ch. 559. Previously amended by L 1921, ch. 510. 14 amended. § 3-a. Divisions. There shall be in the state department of health the following divisions, together with such other divisions as the commissioner may from time to time determine: 1. Division of administration; 2. Division of sanitation; 3. Division of laboratories and research; 4. Division of communicable diseases; 5. Division of vital statistics; 6. Division of publicity and education; 7. Division of maternity, infancy and child hygiene; 8. Division of public health nursing; 9. Division of tuberculosis; 10. Division of social hygiene. Each such division shall be under the management of a director appointed by the commissioner. § 7. Section four of such chapter, as last amended by chapter three hundred and twenty-five of the laws of nineteen hundred and twenty-four, is hereby amended to read as follows: § 4. General powers and duties of commissioner. The commissioner of health shall take cognizance of the interests of health and life of the people of the state, and of all matters pertaining thereto. He shall exercise general supervision over the work of all local health authorities except in the city of New York. He shall have general supervision and control of the medical treatment of patients in the New York state hospital for the treatment of incipient pulmonary tuberculosis at Raybrook and the New York state orthopedic hospital for children at West Haverstraw. He shall be charged with the enforcement of the public health law and the sanitary code. He shall make inquiries in respect to the causes of disease, especially epidemics, and investigate the sources of mortality, and the effect of localities, employments and other conditions, upon the public health. He shall obtain, collect and preserve such information relating to mortality, disease and health as may be useful in the discharge of his duties or may contribute to the promotion of health or the security of life in the state. He may issue subpoenas, compel the attendance of witnesses and compel them to testify in any matter or proceeding before him, and a witness may be required to attend and give testimony in a county where he resides or has a place of business without the payment of any fees. The commissioner of health may reverse or modify an order, regulation, by-law or ordinance of a local board of health concerning a matter which in his judgment affects the public beyond the territory over which such local board has jurisdiction. He may in his discretion from time to time create health districts comprised exclusively of land owned by, or held in trust for, the people of the state, by filing in the office of the secretary of state an order defining generally the boundaries of such district or Previously amended by L. 1913, ch. 559. districts. Upon the making and filing of such order the commissioner of health shall have exclusive jurisdiction within such district or districts, so defined, for sanitary and health purposes, and he, within such district or districts, shall have all the powers and duties of local boards of health and he, and such representatives as he may appoint for such purpose, shall within such district or districts have all the powers and duties under the law of the state and the state sanitary code which local health officers now have or hereafter shall have within their respective localities. The state health commissioner may from time to time modify or repeal such order or orders. The commissioner of health and any person authorized by him so to do, may, without fee or hindrance, enter, examine and survey all grounds, erections, vehicles, structures, apartments, buildings and places. § 8. Section seven of such chapter, is hereby amended to read $ 7 as follows: § 7. Overflow of water from the canals. Whenever water escaping or discharged from any of the canals of the state, through water gates, spillways or otherwise, shall overflow adjacent lands, or any creek or stream receiving such waters, or collect in stagnant pools along the canal or any such creek or stream to such an extent as to cause disease or sickness to the inhabitants of the vicinity, any three of such inhabitants may make a written complaint thereof under oath to the commissioner of health, setting forth the extent of the injury to the public health, so far as is within their knowledge, and the length of time the disease or sickness has existed, which shall be accompanied by a verified certificate of a practicing physician of the vicinity, stating the facts known to him, pertaining to the allegations of the complaint. Upon receipt of such complaint, the commissioner of health shall forthwith examine into the facts and circumstances therein set forth, and may call on the state superintendent of public works to make such survey as they may require for their information, who shall make the same without delay, and if such commissioner is satisfied that such disease or sickness exists, and is caused by waters of the canal escaping or discharged therefrom, he shall so report to the superintendent of public works, without unnecessary delay, who shall forthwith abate the cause of such disease or sickness. amended. amended, § 9. Section fourteen of such chapter, as last amended by chap- § 14 ter five hundred and ten of the laws of nineteen hundred and twenty-one, is hereby amended to read as follows: § 14. Inspection of state institutions by state commissioner of health. The state commissioner of health shall make from time to time an examination and inspection of the sanitary conditions of all state institutions and transmit copies of his report and recommendations thereon to the president of the board or other authority in charge of such institution and to the division of standards and purchase in the executive department. It shall be the duty of the Previously amended by L. 1910, ch. 92; L. 1913, ch. 559. 8 36 amended. § 290 amended. § 291 amended. superintendents of said institutions to immediately report an entbreak of a contagious or infectious disease to the state comissioner of health, and upon receipt of such report the state com missioner of health shall advise the superintendent of said institution as to the best means to effectually control said disease. § 10. Section thirty-six of such chapter is hereby amended to read as follows: § 36. Relief of indigent Indians in case of epidemic. Whenever an epidemic of a contagious or infectious disease shall prevail among the Indians of any nation, tribe or band in this state, the overseer of the poor of any town in which the reservation of such nation, tribe or band, is wholly or partly situated, may in accordance with rules and regulations adopted by the state commissioner of health, cause needed medical attendance, provisions and maintenance to be furnished to any indigent Indian residing in the town, who, or a member of whose family, is afflicted with such disease, while such disease shall continue; and the cost thereof after being audited as herein provided shall be a state charge. A verified statement of any expenses incurred under this section shall be transmitted by the overseer of the poor to the state commissioner of health. Such commissioner shall examine into the matter, and if satisfied that such expenses were properly and necessarily incurred in accordance with the rules and regulations of the state commissioner of health, shall approve the same, and the amount thereof, after audit by the comptroller, shall be paid. from the state treasury on the warrant of the comptroller to such overseer of the poor. § 11. Section two hundred and ninety of such chapter, as last amended by chapter two hundred and thirty of the laws of nineteen hundred and seventeen, is hereby amended to read as follows: § 290. Supervisor of embalming and undertaking. The state commissioner of health shall appoint and may, at pleasure, remove a supervisor of embalming and undertaking, who subject to the supervision, direction and control of the commissioner, shall exercise the powers and perform the duties of the department and commissioner under this article. § 12. Section two hundred and ninety-one of such chapter, as last amended by chapter eight hundred and thirty-nine of the laws of nineteen hundred and twenty,10 is hereby amended to read as follows: § 291. Powers and duties; rules and regulations. The state commissioner of health shall ascertain what constitute the best tests for determining whether life is extinct, and shall prescribe the using of such tests, before embalming, as he may deem necessary; and all persons thereafter embalming the dead shall apply such tests prescribed before injecting any fluid into any body. The commissioner or such supervisor may issue subpoenas and administer oaths to witnesses and take testimony concerning matters within 9 Previously amended by L. 1911, ch. 841; L. 1913, ch. 71. Further amended by L. 1927, ch. 691, post. 10 Previously amended by L. 1913, ch. 71; L. 1917, ch. 230. the jurisdiction of the department. The commissioner shall, from time to time, make and adopt rules, regulations and by-laws not inconsistent with law, whereby the performance of the duties of such supervisor and the transaction of the business and the practice of embalming and undertaking shall be regulated and performed. A certified copy of any of said rules and regulations, attested as true and correct by the commissioner, shall be presumptive evidence of the regular making, adoption and approval thereof. The commissioner may investigate all alleged violations of the stat utes relating to embalming and undertaking, and of all rules and regulations adopted as provided in this section. The commissioner may revoke or suspend any license of an undertaker or embalmer upon proof that the same was procured by fraud or that the holder thereof has been convicted of a felony or has violated any of the provisions of the public health law, the general rules and regulations promulgated by the state commissioner of health, the sanitary code established by the public health council of the state of New York or of any statute relating to undertaking or embalming or vital statistics, which now is or may be enacted, promulgated or established. The commissioner may also revoke or suspend such license upon proof that the holder thereof is incompetent to engage in the business of undertaking or embalming or has been guilty of misconduct in the conduct of such business. The action of the commissioner in revoking or suspending such license shall be reviewable by the court, by certiorari. § 13. Section two hundred and ninety-two of such chapter is 202 hereby amended to read as follows:11 § 292. Examination questions and appointments for examinations. For the purpose of providing for and securing uniform examination throughout the state, and requiring a proper standard of qualification for all candidates, the state department of health shall prepare examination questions for the thorough examination of applicants for license as embalmers, in accordance with the rules. and regulations made, adopted and approved as hereinbefore prescribed. Said examination questions shall pertain to embalming. sanitation and disinfection. For the purpose of examining applicants for license as embalmers the said state department of health shall appoint the times and places for holding examinations, which examinations shall be held at least once in each three months. Such appointment shall be made with due regard to the convenience of applicants and the public service. Said state department of health shall also prescribe the mode and manner of such examinations and appoint the examiner to conduct the same. amended $ 11. Section two hundred and ninety-three of such chapter, as § 298 last amended by chapter four hundred and ninety-five of the laws amended. of nineteen hundred and twenty-three, 12 is hereby amended to read as follows: 11 Section 292 is further amended by L. 1927, ch. 691, post. Previously amended by L. 1913, ch. 71. Further amended by L. 1927, ch. 691, post. |