36-136. Powers and duties of director; compensation of personnel; rules; definitions

A. The director shall:

1. Be the executive officer of the department of health services and the state registrar of vital statistics but shall not receive compensation for services as registrar.

2. Perform all duties necessary to carry out the functions and responsibilities of the department.

3. Prescribe the organization of the department. The director shall appoint or remove personnel as necessary for the efficient work of the department and shall prescribe the duties of all personnel. The director may abolish any office or position in the department that the director believes is unnecessary.

4. Administer and enforce the laws relating to health and sanitation and the rules of the department.

5. Provide for the examination of any premises if the director has reasonable cause to believe that on the premises there exists a violation of any health law or rule of this state.

6. Exercise general supervision over all matters relating to sanitation and health throughout this state. When in the opinion of the director it is necessary or advisable, a sanitary survey of the whole or of any part of this state shall be made. The director may enter, examine and survey any source and means of water supply, sewage disposal plant, sewerage system, prison, public or private place of detention, asylum, hospital, school, public building, private institution, factory, workshop, tenement, public washroom, public restroom, public toilet and toilet facility, public eating room and restaurant, dairy, milk plant or food manufacturing or processing plant, and any premises in which the director has reason to believe there exists a violation of any health law or rule of this state that the director has the duty to administer.

7. Prepare sanitary and public health rules.

8. Perform other duties prescribed by law.

B. If the director has reasonable cause to believe that there exists a violation of any health law or rule of this state, the director may inspect any person or property in transportation through this state, and any car, boat, train, trailer, airplane or other vehicle in which that person or property is transported, and may enforce detention or disinfection as reasonably necessary for the public health if there exists a violation of any health law or rule.

C. The director, after consultation with the department of administration, may take all necessary steps to enhance the highest and best use of the state hospital property, including contracting with third parties to provide services, entering into short-term lease agreements with third parties to occupy or renovate existing buildings and entering into long-term lease agreements to develop the land and buildings. The director shall deposit any monies collected from contracts and lease agreements entered into pursuant to this subsection in the Arizona state hospital charitable trust fund established by section 36-218. At least thirty days before issuing a request for proposals pursuant to this subsection, the department of health services shall hold a public hearing to receive community and provider input regarding the highest and best use of the state hospital property related to the request for proposals. The department shall report to the joint committee on capital review on the terms, conditions and purpose of any lease or sublease agreement entered into pursuant to this subsection relating to state hospital lands or buildings or the disposition of real property pursuant to this subsection, including state hospital lands or buildings, and the fiscal impact on the department and any revenues generated by the agreement. Any lease or sublease agreement entered into pursuant to this subsection relating to state hospital lands or buildings or the disposition of real property pursuant to this subsection, including state hospital lands or buildings, must be reviewed by the joint committee on capital review.

D. The director may deputize, in writing, any qualified officer or employee in the department to do or perform on the director's behalf any act the director is by law empowered to do or charged with the responsibility of doing.

E. The director may delegate to a local health department, county environmental department or public health services district any functions, powers or duties that the director believes can be competently, efficiently and properly performed by the local health department, county environmental department or public health services district if:

1. The director or superintendent of the local health agency, environmental agency or public health services district is willing to accept the delegation and agrees to perform or exercise the functions, powers and duties conferred in accordance with the standards of performance established by the director of the department of health services.

2. Monies appropriated or otherwise made available to the department for distribution to or division among counties or public health services districts for local health work may be allocated or reallocated in a manner designed to ensure the accomplishment of recognized local public health activities and delegated functions, powers and duties in accordance with applicable standards of performance. Whenever in the director's opinion there is cause, the director may terminate all or a part of any delegation and may reallocate all or a part of any funds that may have been conditioned on the further performance of the functions, powers or duties conferred.

F. The compensation of all personnel shall be as determined pursuant to section 38-611.

G. The director may make and amend rules necessary for the proper administration and enforcement of the laws relating to the public health.

H. Notwithstanding subsection I, paragraph 1 of this section, the director may define and prescribe emergency measures for detecting, reporting, preventing and controlling communicable or infectious diseases or conditions if the director has reasonable cause to believe that a serious threat to public health and welfare exists. Emergency measures are effective for no longer than eighteen months.

I. The director, by rule, shall:

1. Define and prescribe reasonably necessary measures for detecting, reporting, preventing and controlling communicable and preventable diseases. The rules shall declare certain diseases reportable. The rules shall prescribe measures, including isolation or quarantine, that are reasonably required to prevent the occurrence of, or to seek early detection and alleviation of, disability, insofar as possible, from communicable or preventable diseases. The rules shall include reasonably necessary measures to control animal diseases transmittable to humans.

2. Define and prescribe reasonably necessary measures, in addition to those prescribed by law, regarding the preparation, embalming, cremation, interment, disinterment and transportation of dead human bodies and the conduct of funerals, relating to and restricted to communicable diseases and regarding the removal, transportation, cremation, interment or disinterment of any dead human body.

3. Define and prescribe reasonably necessary procedures that are not inconsistent with law in regard to the use and accessibility of vital records, delayed birth registration and the completion, change and amendment of vital records.

4. Except as relating to the beneficial use of wildlife meat by public institutions and charitable organizations pursuant to title 17, prescribe reasonably necessary measures to ensure that all food or drink, including meat and meat products and milk and milk products sold at the retail level, provided for human consumption is free from unwholesome, poisonous or other foreign substances and filth, insects or disease-causing organisms. The rules shall prescribe reasonably necessary measures governing the production, processing, labeling, storing, handling, serving and transportation of these products. The rules shall prescribe minimum standards for the sanitary facilities and conditions that shall be maintained in any warehouse, restaurant or other premises, except a meat packing plant, slaughterhouse, wholesale meat processing plant, dairy product manufacturing plant or trade product manufacturing plant. The rules shall prescribe minimum standards for any truck or other vehicle in which food or drink is produced, processed, stored, handled, served or transported. The rules shall provide for the inspection and licensing of premises and vehicles so used, and for abatement as public nuisances of any premises or vehicles that do not comply with the rules and minimum standards. The rules shall provide an exemption relating to food or drink that is:

(a) Served at a noncommercial social event such as a potluck.

(b) Prepared at a cooking school that is conducted in an owner-occupied home.

(c) Not potentially hazardous and prepared in a kitchen of a private home for occasional sale or distribution for noncommercial purposes.

(d) Prepared or served at an employee-conducted function that lasts less than four hours and is not regularly scheduled, such as an employee recognition, an employee fund-raising or an employee social event.

(e) Offered at a child care facility and limited to commercially prepackaged food that is not potentially hazardous and whole fruits and vegetables that are washed and cut on-site for immediate consumption.

(f) Offered at locations that sell only commercially prepackaged food or drink that is not potentially hazardous.

(g) A cottage food product that is not potentially hazardous or a time or temperature control for safety food and that is prepared in a kitchen of a private home for commercial purposes, including fruit jams and jellies, dry mixes made with ingredients from approved sources, honey, dry pasta and roasted nuts. Cottage food products must be packaged at home with an attached label that clearly states the name and registration number of the food preparer, lists all the ingredients in the product and the product's production date and includes the following statement: " This product was produced in a home kitchen that may process common food allergens and is not subject to public health inspection." If the product was made in a facility for individuals with developmental disabilities, the label must also disclose that fact. The person preparing the food or supervising the food preparation must complete a food handler training course from an accredited program and maintain active certification. The food preparer must register with an online registry established by the department pursuant to paragraph 13 of this subsection. The food preparer must display the preparer's certificate of registration when operating as a temporary food establishment. For the purposes of this subdivision, " not potentially hazardous" means cottage food products that meet the requirements of the food code published by the United States food and drug administration, as modified and incorporated by reference by the department by rule.

(h) A whole fruit or vegetable grown in a public school garden that is washed and cut on-site for immediate consumption.

(i) Produce in a packing or holding facility that is subject to the United States food and drug administration produce safety rule (21 Code of Federal Regulations part 112) as administered by the Arizona department of agriculture pursuant to title 3, chapter 3, article 4.1. For the purposes of this subdivision, " holding" , " packing" and " produce" have the same meanings prescribed in section 3-525.

5. Prescribe reasonably necessary measures to ensure that all meat and meat products for human consumption handled at the retail level are delivered in a manner and from sources approved by the Arizona department of agriculture and are free from unwholesome, poisonous or other foreign substances and filth, insects or disease-causing organisms. The rules shall prescribe standards for sanitary facilities to be used in identity, storage, handling and sale of all meat and meat products sold at the retail level.

6. Prescribe reasonably necessary measures regarding production, processing, labeling, handling, serving and transportation of bottled water to ensure that all bottled drinking water distributed for human consumption is free from unwholesome, poisonous, deleterious or other foreign substances and filth or disease-causing organisms. The rules shall prescribe minimum standards for the sanitary facilities and conditions that shall be maintained at any source of water, bottling plant and truck or vehicle in which bottled water is produced, processed, stored or transported and shall provide for inspection and certification of bottled drinking water sources, plants, processes and transportation and for abatement as a public nuisance of any water supply, label, premises, equipment, process or vehicle that does not comply with the minimum standards. The rules shall prescribe minimum standards for bacteriological, physical and chemical quality for bottled water and for the submission of samples at intervals prescribed in the standards.

7. Define and prescribe reasonably necessary measures governing ice production, handling, storing and distribution to ensure that all ice sold or distributed for human consumption or for the preservation or storage of food for human consumption is free from unwholesome, poisonous, deleterious or other foreign substances and filth or disease-causing organisms. The rules shall prescribe minimum standards for the sanitary facilities and conditions and the quality of ice that shall be maintained at any ice plant, storage and truck or vehicle in which ice is produced, stored, handled or transported and shall provide for inspection and licensing of the premises and vehicles, and for abatement as public nuisances of ice, premises, equipment, processes or vehicles that do not comply with the minimum standards.

8. Define and prescribe reasonably necessary measures concerning sewage and excreta disposal, garbage and trash collection, storage and disposal, and water supply for recreational and summer camps, campgrounds, motels, tourist courts, trailer coach parks and hotels. The rules shall prescribe minimum standards for preparation of food in community kitchens, adequacy of excreta disposal, garbage and trash collection, storage and disposal and water supply for recreational and summer camps, campgrounds, motels, tourist courts, trailer coach parks and hotels and shall provide for inspection of these premises and for abatement as public nuisances of any premises or facilities that do not comply with the rules. Primitive camp and picnic grounds offered by this state or a political subdivision of this state are exempt from rules adopted pursuant to this paragraph but are subject to approval by a county health department under sanitary regulations adopted pursuant to section 36-183.02. Rules adopted pursuant to this paragraph do not apply to two or fewer recreational vehicles as defined in section 33-2102 that are not park models or park trailers, that are parked on owner-occupied residential property for less than sixty days and for which no rent or other compensation is paid. For the purposes of this paragraph, " primitive camp and picnic grounds" means camp and picnic grounds that are remote in nature and without accessibility to public infrastructure such as water, electricity and sewer.

9. Define and prescribe reasonably necessary measures concerning the sewage and excreta disposal, garbage and trash collection, storage and disposal, water supply and food preparation of all public schools. The rules shall prescribe minimum standards for sanitary conditions that shall be maintained in any public school and shall provide for inspection of these premises and facilities and for abatement as public nuisances of any premises that do not comply with the minimum standards.

10. Prescribe reasonably necessary measures to prevent pollution of water used in public or semipublic swimming pools and bathing places and to prevent deleterious health conditions at these places. The rules shall prescribe minimum standards for sanitary conditions that shall be maintained at any public or semipublic swimming pool or bathing place and shall provide for inspection of these premises and for abatement as public nuisances of any premises and facilities that do not comply with the minimum standards. The rules shall be developed in cooperation with the director of the department of environmental quality and shall be consistent with the rules adopted by the director of the department of environmental quality pursuant to section 49-104, subsection B, paragraph 12.

11. Prescribe reasonably necessary measures to keep confidential information relating to diagnostic findings and treatment of patients, as well as information relating to contacts, suspects and associates of communicable disease patients. In no event shall confidential information be made available for political or commercial purposes.

12. Prescribe reasonably necessary measures regarding human immunodeficiency virus testing as a means to control the transmission of that virus, including the designation of anonymous test sites as dictated by current epidemiologic and scientific evidence.

13. Establish an online registry of food preparers that are authorized to prepare cottage food products for commercial purposes pursuant to paragraph 4 of this subsection. A registered food preparer shall renew the registration every three years and shall provide to the department updated registration information within thirty days after any change.

14. Prescribe an exclusion for fetal demise cases from the standardized survey known as " the hospital consumer assessment of healthcare providers and systems" .

J. The rules adopted under the authority conferred by this section shall be observed throughout the state and shall be enforced by each local board of health or public health services district, but this section does not limit the right of any local board of health or county board of supervisors to adopt ordinances and rules as authorized by law within its jurisdiction, provided that the ordinances and rules do not conflict with state law and are equal to or more restrictive than the rules of the director.

K. The powers and duties prescribed by this section do not apply in instances in which regulatory powers and duties relating to public health are vested by the legislature in any other state board, commission, agency or instrumentality, except that with regard to the regulation of meat and meat products, the department of health services and the Arizona department of agriculture within the area delegated to each shall adopt rules that are not in conflict.

L. The director, in establishing fees authorized by this section, shall comply with title 41, chapter 6. The department shall not set a fee at more than the department's cost of providing the service for which the fee is charged. State agencies are exempt from all fees imposed pursuant to this section.

M. After consultation with the state superintendent of public instruction, the director shall prescribe the criteria the department shall use in deciding whether or not to notify a local school district that a pupil in the district has tested positive for the human immunodeficiency virus antibody. The director shall prescribe the procedure by which the department shall notify a school district if, pursuant to these criteria, the department determines that notification is warranted in a particular situation. This procedure shall include a requirement that before notification the department shall determine to its satisfaction that the district has an appropriate policy relating to nondiscrimination of the infected pupil and confidentiality of test results and that proper educational counseling has been or will be provided to staff and pupils.

N. Until the department adopts exemptions by rule as required by subsection I, paragraph 4, subdivision (f) of this section, food and drink are exempt from the rules prescribed in subsection I of this section if offered at locations that sell only commercially prepackaged food or drink that is not potentially hazardous, without a limitation on its display area.

O. Until the department adopts exemptions by rule as required by subsection I, paragraph 4, subdivision (h) of this section, a whole fruit or vegetable grown in a public school garden that is washed and cut on-site for immediate consumption is exempt from the rules prescribed in subsection I of this section.

P. Until the department adopts an exclusion by rule as required by subsection I, paragraph 14 of this section, the standardized survey known as " the hospital consumer assessment of healthcare providers and systems" may not include patients who experience a fetal demise.

Q. For the purposes of this section:

1. " Cottage food product" :

(a) Means a food that is not potentially hazardous or a time or temperature control for safety food as defined by the department in rule and that is prepared in a home kitchen by an individual who is registered with the department.

(b) Does not include foods that require refrigeration, perishable baked goods, salsas, sauces, fermented and pickled foods, meat, fish and shellfish products, beverages, acidified food products, nut butters or other reduced-oxygen packaged products.

2. " Fetal demise" means a fetal death that occurs or is confirmed in a licensed hospital. Fetal demise does not include an abortion as defined in section 36-2151.