§16-2E-3. State director of health to establish rules and regulations; legislative findings; emergency filing.

The director of health shall promulgate rules and regulations not in conflict with any provision of this article, as it finds necessary in order to ensure adequate care and accommodations for consumers of birthing centers. In promulgating such regulations the director shall be limited to simple, necessary provisions which shall not have the effect of hampering the development and licensure of birthing centers. Such regulations shall not address acceptable site characteristics such as the number of minutes of travel time between a birthing center and a hospital, or physical environment, such as acceptable levels of temperature of any refrigerator found in a birthing center, or clinical equipment, such as the number and kind of clocks which a birthing center must have on the premises. Such regulations shall require that all birthing centers submit satisfactory evidence that the center has implemented the paternity program created pursuant to section thirteen of this article along with any application for licensure.

The Legislature hereby finds and declares that it is in the public interest to encourage the development of birthing centers for the purpose of providing an alternative method of birth and therefore, in order to provide for the licensing of such birthing centers to prevent substantial harm to the public interest because of preexisting delay, within sixty days of passage of this article, the director of health shall proceed to promulgate such rules and regulations under the provisions of section fifteen, article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code.