Terms Used In West Virginia Code > Chapter 16 > Article 1 - State Public Health System

• Advice and consent: Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote.
• Allegation: something that someone says happened.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Basic public health services: means those services that are necessary to protect the health of the public. See West Virginia Code 16-1-2
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• board: means a board of health serving one or more counties or one or more municipalities or a combination thereof. See West Virginia Code 16-1-2
• Bureau: means the Bureau for Public Health in the department. See West Virginia Code 16-1-2
• Commissioner: means the commissioner of the bureau, who may be designated as the state health officer. See West Virginia Code 16-1-2
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Department: means the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources: Provided, That beginning January 1, 2024, as used in this chapter, "department" and "Department of Health and Human Resources" means the Department of Health. See West Virginia Code 16-1-2
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Donor: The person who makes a gift.
• Essential public health services: means the core public health activities necessary to promote health and prevent disease, injury, and disability for the citizens of the state. See West Virginia Code 16-1-2
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. ^{Source: OCC}
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• in writing: includes any representation of words, letters, or figures, whether by printing, engraving, writing, or otherwise. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Joint committee: Committees including membership from both houses of teh legislature. Joint committees are usually established with narrow jurisdictions and normally lack authority to report legislation.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• oath: shall be deemed to include an affirmation and the word "swear" or "sworn" to be complied with if the person referred to make solemn affirmation. See West Virginia Code 2-2-7
• Offense: includes every act or omission for which a fine, forfeiture, or punishment is imposed by law. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Potential source of significant contamination: means a facility or activity that stores, uses, or produces substances or compounds with potential for significant contaminating impact if released into the source water of a public water supply. See West Virginia Code 16-1-2
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Public surface water influenced groundwater supply source: means a source of water supply for a public water system which is directly drawn from an underground well, underground river or stream, underground reservoir, or underground mine, and the quantity and quality of the water in that underground supply source is heavily influenced, directly or indirectly, by the quantity and quality of surface water in the immediate area. See West Virginia Code 16-1-2
• Public surface water supply source: means a primary source of water supply for a public water system which is directly drawn from rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, impoundments, or other primary sources of water supplies which are found on the surface of the state. See West Virginia Code 16-1-2
• Public water system: means :

  (A) Any water supply or system which regularly supplies or offers to supply water for human consumption through pipes or other constructed conveyances, if serving at least an average of 25 individuals per day for at least 60 days per year, or which has at least 15 service connections, and shall include:

  (i) Any collection, treatment, storage, and distribution facilities under the control of the owner or operator of the system and used primarily in connection with the system. See West Virginia Code 16-1-2

• Public water utility: means a public water system which is regulated by the West Virginia Public Service Commission pursuant to the provisions of §. See West Virginia Code 16-1-2
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Secretary: means the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources: Provided, That beginning January 1, 2024, as used in this chapter, "secretary" means the secretary of the Department of Health. See West Virginia Code 16-1-2
• State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Subpoena duces tecum: A command to a witness to produce documents.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.