Request By:
The Honorable Robert A. Jones
Representative, Fifty-ninth District
Post Office Box 203
Crestwood, Kentucky 40014
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Joseph R. Johnson, Assistant Attorney General
This letter is in response to your request for an opinion of this office interpreting KRS 318.310 which authorizes the Department for Housing Buildings and Construction to designate a local health board as its agent for the issuance of plumbing installation permits for on-site sewage disposal systems.
Although the Commissioner of the Department for Housing Buildings and Construction may authorize a local health board as an agent to issue plumbing installation permits for on-site sewage disposal systems, the statute contains five (5) requirements in order to make this designation possible:
1. The local health board must make a written request to the commissioner for authority to issue the permits.
2. The on-site sewage disposal system for which a permit is to be granted must be within the local board's jurisdiction.
3. The permits issued by the local board must comply with KRS 318.134 which provides as follows:
(a) The application for a permit must be accompanied by plans and specifications of the proposed plumbing installation, location and construction of water supply system, type of sewage disposal, location of septic tank, drain field or pit to be used and the results of a percolation test.
(b) The board must charge fees for plumbing installation permits and inspections. This fee schedule has been established through a Regulation which is attached to this letter and marked Exhibit A.
4. The permits issued by the local board must comply with KRS 318.160 which provides as follows:
(a) Detailed plans and specifications for constructing, installing, or altering the sewage system of a public building must be submitted to the local board before the board may give its approval in writing. The plan must include the proposed type of sewage disposal system.
(b) If a sewage subsoil drainage system is used, a complete soil study and the results of percolation tests must be submitted.
(c) The plans and specifications must be submitted in triplicate.
5. The local board must include in its written request to the commissioner for authority to issue permits a procedure for administering the issuance of such permits.
It was clearly the legislative intent to give the local boards the same authority to issue permits as the Department as long as the statutory requirements were met. This is clearly reflected in the language added by the 1978 legislature to KRS 318.134 and KRS 318.160 which states that "In the case of on-site sewage disposal systems, an authorized local board of health may act for the department pursuant to KRS 318.310."
Therefore, it is the opinion of this office that as long as the local health board acts in conformity with the above-enumerated statutory requirements, the local health board has the authority to issue permits for on-site sewage disposal systems without consultation with or concurrent approval of the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction. In addition, as long as the above five (5) requirements are met, variances may be granted by the local board without consultation with or concurrent approval of the Department.