CONTAINMENT OF MEDICAL WASTE; MODIFY S.B. 482:
SUMMARY OF INTRODUCED BILL
IN COMMITTEE
Senate Bill 482 (as introduced 9-12-23) (Senate-passed version)
Sponsor: Senator Kristen McDonald Rivet
CONTENT
The bill would amend Part 138 (Medical Waste) of the Public Health Code to allow facilities that produce medical waste (producing facilities) to store medical waste in a sharps container for longer than 90 days if the sharps container were not filled to more than 75% capacity.
(Under the Code, "medical waste" generally means cultures and stocks of infectious agents, liquid human waste, human organs and tissues, and sharps. "Sharps" means needles, syringes, scalpels, and intravenous tubing with needles attached.)
Part 138 governs the disposal of medical waste. If the medical waste is sharps, a producing facility must store and dispose of the sharps in the following manner:
-- By placement in rigid, puncture-resistant containers that are appropriately labeled and transported to a sanitary landfill in a manner that retains the integrity of the container.
-- By incineration or decontamination and grinding that renders the objects unrecognizable.
The Code prohibits a producing facility from storing any medical waste on the premises for more than 90 days, regardless of whether the producing facility incinerates its medical waste on site.
Under the bill, medical waste could be stored on a producing facility's premises in a sharps container for longer than 90 days if the sharps container were not filled to more than 75% capacity.
MCL 333.13809 & 333.13810 Legislative Analyst: Alex Krabill
FISCAL IMPACT
The bill would have no fiscal impact on the Department of Health and Human Services or local units of government.
Fiscal Analyst: Ellyn Ackerman
This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.