Rhode Island General Laws
Chapter 23-1 - Department of Health
Section 23-1-18. - Power to provide rules and regulations in specific areas.

§ 23-1-18. Power to provide rules and regulations in specific areas.
Without limiting the generality of § 23-1-17, the rules and regulations relating to sanitation and health provided for by § 23-1-17 may include:
(1) Provisions fixing responsibilities of owners, operators, and occupants of land or buildings for the sanitary condition, maintenance, use, and occupancy of the land and buildings.
(2) Minimum standards with respect to the reporting of any disease and the quarantine of persons affected by that disease.
(3) Minimum standards and conditions for the location, construction, and sanitary quality of all drinking water supplies.
(4) Minimum standards for facilities and sanitary conditions for schools and the health care for school children.
(5) Minimum standards with respect to the maintenance and operation of food businesses.
(6) Minimum standards of air quality consistent with human health.
(7) Minimum standards consistent with human health for the quality of the waters of the state.
(8) Minimum standards consistent with human health for the quality of public drinking water.
(9) Minimum standards for immunization and testing for communicable diseases, including, but not limited to, tuberculosis, of employees, children, and students at any child daycare center, family daycare home, private nursery school, any other regular program providing educational services to preschool-aged children, public or private school, college, or university.
(10) Provisions requiring the reporting of immunization status and any other relevant information that the director determines appropriate for all persons for the purpose of establishing and maintaining an immunization registry; provided, however, that the information collected by the department for the immunization registry will only include data elements nationally endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to meet standards for immunization information systems, and that all personally identifiable information obtained pursuant to this section shall be subject to the provisions of chapter 37.3 of title 5 and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-191 (HIPAA), as amended. Any person may opt out of and choose to remove his or her information from the immunization registry by contacting the department directly by phone or by submitting a form online that shall be made available on the department’s website.
(11) Provisions requiring the reporting of inventories and sales of drugs, devices, and other products potentially related to the outbreak of disease. All information acquired under this subsection by the department of health is confidential and not subject to public access pursuant to chapter 2 of title 38.
History of Section.P.L. 1966, ch. 109, § 1; P.L. 1967, ch. 61, § 1; P.L. 1968, ch. 192, § 1; P.L. 1971, ch. 42, § 1; P.L. 1977, ch. 182, § 8; P.L. 1977, ch. 279, § 1; P.L. 1978, ch. 131, § 2; P.L. 1978, ch. 229, § 3; P.L. 1993, ch. 253, § 2; P.L. 1993, ch. 406, § 2; P.L. 2003, ch. 185, § 1; P.L. 2003, ch. 189, § 1; P.L. 2019, ch. 196, § 1; P.L. 2019, ch. 284, § 1.

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