SECTION 31. Health regulations; summary publication; hearings; impact on farming or agriculture; filing sanitary codes and related rules, etc.

Boards of health may make reasonable health regulations. A summary which shall describe the substance of any regulation made by a board of health under this chapter shall be published once in a newspaper of general circulation in the city or town, and such publication shall be notice to all persons. No regulation or amendment thereto which relates to the minimum requirements for subsurface disposal of sanitary sewage as provided by the state environmental code shall be adopted until such time as the board of health shall hold a public hearing thereon, notice of the time, place and subject matter of which, sufficient for identification, shall be given by publishing in a newspaper of general circulation in the city or town once in each of two successive weeks, the first publication to be not less than fourteen days prior to the date set for such hearing, or if there is no such newspaper in such city or town, then by posting notice in a conspicuous place in the city or town hall for a period of not less than fourteen days prior to the date set for such hearing. Prior to the adoption of any such regulation or amendment which exceeds the minimum requirements for subsurface disposal of sanitary sewage as provided by the state environmental code, a board of health shall state at said public hearing the local conditions which exist or reasons for exceeding such minimum requirements. Whoever, himself or by his servant or agent, or as the servant or agent of any other person or any firm or corporation, violates any reasonable health regulation, made under authority of this section, for which no penalty by way of fine or imprisonment, or both, is provided by law, shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars.

In a municipality with a municipal agricultural commission established pursuant to section 8L of chapter 40, the board of health in that municipality shall, during the publication period, solicit and consider comments submitted by the commission on regulations that have an impact on farming or agriculture as defined in section 1A of chapter 128.

Boards of health shall file with the department of environmental protection, attested copies of sanitary codes, and all rules, regulations and standards which have been adopted, and any amendments and additions thereto, for the maintenance of a central register pursuant to section eight of chapter twenty-one A.