§ 40:5 — General powers and jurisdiction

§5. General powers and jurisdiction
A. The state health officer and the office of public health of the Louisiana
Department of Health shall have exclusive jurisdiction, control, and authority:
(1) To isolate or quarantine for the care and control of communicable disease within
the state.
(2) To take such action as is necessary to accomplish the subsidence and suppression
of diseases of all kinds in order to prevent their spread.
(3) To enforce a sanitary code for the entire state containing provisions for the
improvement and amelioration of the hygienic and sanitary conditions of the state.
(4) To enact provisions regulating the standards of health and decency and building
regulations of all prisons, jails, lock-ups, and camps where prisoners are detained or
confined.
(5) To supervise, inspect, and issue sanitation permits for water supplies,
slaughterhouses, cold storage plants, all places of public accommodation, and the handling
and control of hygienic conditions with respect to all food.
(6) To take such action as may be authorized by the administrator of the
Environmental Protection Agency under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974, as
amended.
(7) To make all sanitary inspections and provide for the issuance of health permits.
(8) Over the enforcement of controls and issuance of permits for the distribution and
handling of dangerous drugs.
(9) Over the treatment and disposal of municipal or domestic sewage.
(10) Over the reporting of communicable diseases.
(11) Over the gathering, keeping, reporting, and tabulating of vital and mortuary
records and statistics for all parishes of the state.
(12) Over the providing of facilities for vaccination.
(13) To assist in the supervision and operation of parish and municipal health units
and departments.
(14) Over the regulation of the carriage and transportation of persons, freight, and
dead bodies brought into the state or transported through or in the state as they may affect
public health.
(15) Over the sanitary inspection of meat, milk, and other products which may affect
public health and safety.
(16) Over the sanitary conditions required at any public gathering or meeting.
(17) Over the adoption of rules and regulations regarding public health, sanitary, and
hygienic subjects, including those for standards governing noxious odors.
(18) To promulgate rules and regulations in accordance with the Administrative
Procedure Act to establish a fee schedule, based on ability to pay or eligibility for third party
reimbursement, for services provided by the Children's Special Health Services program and
maternal and child health programs in the office of public health.
(19) To conduct health inspections and issue health permits through state-employed
licensed sanitarians, or by licensed sanitarians of parish health units or departments.
(20) Over those functions of the state provided by law relating to environmental
quality and pollution control which are related to the public health and which are specifically
assigned to the department by statute.
(21)(a) To conduct health, safety, and sanitation inspections, through state-employed
licensed sanitarians, of any place upon receipt of a complaint that the department determines
shows appropriate and sufficient grounds to indicate a health hazard or sanitary code
violation may exist, regardless of whether such place is licensed or not, or otherwise
regulated.
(b) In order to comply with the provisions of Subparagraph (a) of this Paragraph, a
licensed sanitarian may, if necessary, seek and obtain an appropriate order or warrant from
the state district court for the judicial district in which the place to be inspected is located to
enter, examine, and inspect such place for a health hazard or sanitary code violation.
B. Nothing in this Section shall grant or be interpreted as to grant the state health
officer or the office of public health of the Louisiana Department of Health the authority to
supercede the authority of municipalities or parishes to enforce the State Uniform
Construction Code provided for in Part IV-A of Chapter 8 of this Title. The building official
for the parish, municipality, or regional planning commission, as authorized in R.S.
40:1730.24 and appointed pursuant to R.S. 40:1730.25, or a qualified building code
enforcement officer designated by the building official, shall have the authority to enforce
the plumbing provisions adopted pursuant to Part IV-A of Chapter 8 of this Title.

Legislative History

Acts 1976, No. 346, §1. Amended by Acts 1978, No. 786, §5, eff. July 17, 1978; Acts 1979, No. 449, §4, eff. Jan. 1, 1980; Acts 1989, No. 713, §1; Acts 1990, No. 574, §1; Acts 1993, No. 180, §1, eff. May 31, 1993; Acts 1999, No. 993, §1, eff. July 9, 1999; Acts 2014, No. 811, §22, eff. June 23, 2014; Acts 2014, No. 836, §3, eff. Jan. 1, 2016; Acts 2022, No. 271, §4.