§ 23-1-3. Maintenance of laboratories. (a) The director of health shall maintain pathological, bacteriological, and chemical laboratories and shall select in accordance with law qualified persons to conduct and supervise the pathological, bacteriological, and chemical researches made in those laboratories.

(b) The director of health is authorized to establish and modify fees by regulation for all laboratory services provided by the department of health laboratory. The fees as established by the director shall be related to the costs incurred in operating the laboratory and may include administrative, personnel, equipment, supplies, overhead, and other related costs necessary to develop and provide laboratory services. All fees collected under this section, except those fees in subsections (f) through (h) shall be deposited as general revenues.

(c) The testing program for clinical tests designated by the director in regulation shall be a covered benefit and shall be reimbursable by all health insurers, as defined in § 27-38.2-2(1), providing health insurance coverage in Rhode Island except for supplemental policies which only provide coverage for specific diseases, hospital indemnity Medicare supplements, or other supplemental policies. The charges for those testing programs shall be borne by the hospitals or other licensed health care providers and facilities in the absence of a third-party payor.

(d) All funds received under chapter 16.2 of this title shall be deposited as general revenues.

(e) The provisions of §§ 45-13-7 through 45-13-10 shall not apply to this section.

(f) In addition to any other fine, assessment, penalty or forfeiture provided by law, the traffic tribunal shall collect an assessment of one hundred dollars ($100) from each defendant who is required to attend a special course on driver retraining, except from those who are ordered to attend a special course on driving while intoxicated, described in § 31-27-2, by the traffic tribunal.

(g) In addition to any other fine, assessment, penalty, or forfeiture provided by law, the court or tribunal shall collect the sum of one hundred and eighteen dollars ($118) for each drug-related charge from every defendant who is convicted after trial, or who enters a plea of guilty or of nolo contendere, with respect to violations of the following chapters and/or sections of the Rhode Island General Laws, which shall include but not be limited to: chapter 15 of title 7, 11-23-2, 11-23-6, 11-25-23, chapter 28 of title 21, 21-28-4.01, 21-28-4.01.1, 21-28-4.01.2, 21-28-4.02, 21-28-4.03, 21-28-4.04, 21-28-4.05, 21-28-4.06, 21-28-4.07, 21-28-4.07.1, 21-28-4.09, 21-28-4.10, 21-28-4.11, 21-28-4.14, 21-28-4.15, 21-28-4.16, 21-28-4.17, 21-28-4.17.1, 21-28-4.19, 31-27-1.1, 31-27-2.2, 31-27-2.4, 31-27-2.6, chapter 22.2 of title 46, 46-22.2-3, 46-22.2-4, and 46-22.2-5.

(h) In addition to any other fine, assessment, penalty, or forfeiture provided by law, the court or tribunal shall collect the sum of one hundred dollars ($100) for each charge from every defendant who is convicted after trial, or who enters a plea of guilty or of nolo contendere, with respect to violations of the following chapters and/or sections of the Rhode Island General Laws, which shall include but not be limited to: 11-5-1, 11-5-2, 11-5-2.1, 11-5-4, 11-5-5, 11-5-6, 11-5-7, 11-5-8, 11-5-10, 11-5-10.1, 11-5-10.2, 11-5-10.3, 11-5-10.4, 11-5-11, 11-5-14, 11-5-14.1, 11-8-1, 11-8-2.1, 11-8-2.2, 11-8-2.3, 11-8-2.4, 11-8-3, 11-8-4, 11-8-9, 11-23-1, 11-23-2.1, 11-23-3, 11-25-2, 11-25-3, 11-25-4, 11-26-1, 11-26-1.4, 11-29-1, 11-37-2, 11-37-4, 11-37-6, 11-37-8.1, 11-37-8.3, and 11-39-1.

(i) All fees collected in subsections (f) through (h) shall be placed in the general fund.

History of Section. (P.L. 1939, ch. 660, § 181; G.L. 1956, § 23-1-3; P.L. 1991, ch. 44, art. 17, § 1; P.L. 1992, ch. 133, art. 94, § 2; P.L. 1995, ch. 370, art. 24, § 1; P.L. 1995, ch. 370, art. 40, § 58; P.L. 2004, ch. 6, § 10.)