§ 20-7-114 - Public health laboratory. - Arkansas Statutes

20-7-114. Public health laboratory.

(a) (1) The State Board of Health shall establish, equip, and maintain a public health laboratory that shall be used for making:

(A) Analyses of foods and drugs to enforce pure food and drug laws;

(B) Analyses of the environment to investigate cases or suspected cases of human exposure; and

(C) Investigations of cases and suspected cases of malaria, diphtheria, typhoid fever, tuberculosis, epidemic cerebro-spinal meningitis, glanders, hookworm disease, rabies, and other infectious, contagious, communicable, and debilitating diseases.

(2) The public health laboratory shall be established and maintained at the Division of Health of the Department of Health and Human Services under the direct supervision of the Director of the Division of Health of the Department of Health and Human Services or his or her authorized representatives.

(b) (1) (A) The division may establish fees to be charged for performing analyses of various types of samples submitted to the public health laboratory for examination.

(B) The amount of fees established by the board shall not exceed the actual cost of performing the test.

(2) All fees levied and collected under this subsection are special revenues and shall be deposited into the State Treasury, there to be credited to the Public Health Fund.

(3) All rules and regulations promulgated pursuant to this subsection shall be reviewed by the House Interim Committee on Public Health, Welfare, and Labor and the Senate Interim Committee on Public Health, Welfare, and Labor or appropriate subcommittees thereof.

(c) Subject to rules and regulations as may be implemented by the Chief Fiscal Officer of the State, the disbursing officer for the division may transfer all unexpended funds relative to the laboratory services that pertain to fees collected, as certified by the Chief Fiscal Officer of the State, to be carried forward and made available for expenditures for the same purpose for any following fiscal year.

(d) For the purpose of requesting and receiving laboratory tests from the division, "authorized persons" means:

(1) Public health nurses, nurse practitioners, and nurse midwives practicing under division protocols; and

(2) Physicians employed by the division.