Definitions

  1. Law
  2. Georgia Code
  3. Military, Emergency Management, and Veterans Affairs
  4. Emergency Management
  5. General Provisions
  6. Definitions

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As used in Articles 1 through 3 of this chapter, the term:

  1. "Bioterrorism" means the intentional creation or use of any microorganism, virus, infectious substance, or any component thereof, whether naturally occurring or bioengineered, to cause death, illness, disease, or other biological malfunction in a human, animal, plant, or other living organism in order improperly or illegally to influence the conduct of government, to interfere with or disrupt commerce, or to intimidate or coerce a civilian population.
  2. "Emergency management" means the preparation for the carrying out of all emergency functions other than functions for which military forces are primarily responsible to prevent, minimize, and repair injury and damage resulting from emergencies, energy emergencies, disasters, or the imminent threat thereof, of manmade or natural origin caused by enemy attack, sabotage, acts of domestic or international terrorism, civil disturbance, fire, flood, earthquake, wind, storm, wave action, oil spill or other water contamination requiring emergency action to avert danger or damage, epidemic, air contamination, blight, drought, infestation, explosion, riot or other hostile action, radiological action, or other causes. These functions include, without limitation, fire-fighting services; police services; emergency medical services; rescue; engineering; warning services; communications; defense from radiological, chemical, biological, and other special weapons to include weapons of mass destruction; evacuation of persons from stricken areas; emergency welfare services; consequence management functions to include victim services; emergency transportation; plant protection; temporary restoration of public utility services; and other functions related to civilian protection, together with all other activities necessary or incidental to the preparation for and carrying out of the foregoing functions.

    (2.1) "Emergency Operations Command" means the unified command group comprising the director of emergency management and homeland security, the director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the commissioner of public safety, the commissioner of natural resources, the commissioner of transportation, and the adjutant general.

  3. "Energy emergency" means a condition of danger to the health, safety, welfare, or economic well-being of the citizens of this state arising out of a present or threatened shortage of usable energy resources; also any condition of substantial danger to the health, safety, or welfare of the citizens of this state resulting from the operation of any electrical power-generating facility, the transport of any energy resource by any means whatsoever, or the production, use, or disposal of any source material, special nuclear material, or by-product, as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, 68 Stat. 919, 42 U.S.C. Section 2011, et seq.; also any nuclear incident, as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, occurring within or outside this state, substantially affecting the health, safety, or welfare of the citizens of this state.
  4. "Energy resources" means all forms of energy or power, including, without limitation, oil, gasoline, and other petroleum products; natural or synthetic gas; electricity in all forms and from all sources; and other fuels of any description, except wood.

    (4.1) "Homeland security activity" shall have the same meaning as provided for in Code Section 35-3-200.

    (4.2) "Pandemic influenza emergency" means the declaration by the World Health Organization of at least a Phase 5 Pandemic Alert for influenza occurring in the United States or the State of Georgia or the declaration by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of at least a Category 2 Pandemic Severity Index for influenza occurring in the United States or the State of Georgia.

  5. "Political subdivision" means:
    1. Cities having a population of over 1,000;
    2. Cities having a population of less than 1,000 in which the Governor has established a local organization; and
    3. Counties.
  6. "Public health emergency" means the occurrence or imminent threat of an illness or health condition that is reasonably believed to be caused by bioterrorism or the appearance of a novel or previously controlled or eradicated infectious agent or biological toxin and poses a high probability of any of the following harms:
    1. A large number of deaths in the affected population;
    2. A large number of serious or long-term disabilities in the affected population; or
    3. Widespread exposure to an infectious or toxic agent that poses a significant risk of substantial future harm to a large number of people in the affected population.
  7. "State of emergency" means the condition declared by the Governor when, in his or her judgment, the threat or actual occurrence of a disaster, emergency, or energy emergency in any part of the state is of sufficient severity and magnitude to warrant extraordinary assistance by the state to supplement the efforts and available resources of the several localities and relief organizations in preventing or alleviating the damage, loss, hardship, or suffering threatened or caused thereby.

(Ga. L. 1951, p. 224, § 3; Ga. L. 1973, p. 74, §§ 2, 6; Ga. L. 1977, p. 192, § 1; Ga. L. 1981, p. 389, § 2; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 38; Ga. L. 1995, p. 10, § 38; Ga. L. 1999, p. 372, § 1; Ga. L. 2002, p. 1386, § 11; Ga. L. 2009, p. 184, § 3/HB 217; Ga. L. 2012, p. 775, § 38/HB 942; Ga. L. 2018, p. 681, § 1-1/HB 779; Ga. L. 2019, p. 1056, § 38/SB 52.)

The 2012 amendment, effective May 1, 2012, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, substituted "42 U.S.C. Section 2011," for "42 U.S.C. 2011," in paragraph (3).

The 2018 amendment, effective July 1, 2018, added paragraph (2.1); inserted a comma following "use" in the middle of paragraph (3); added paragraph (4.1); redesignated former paragraph (4.1) as present paragraph (4.2); and inserted "or her" near the middle of paragraph (7).

The 2019 amendment, effective May 12, 2019, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, revised punctuation in paragraph (4).

Law reviews.

- For note on the 2002 amendment of this Code section, see 19 Georgia. St. U.L. Rev. 1 (2002).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Governor's authority over local evacuation efforts.

- Designated local officials have the authority to require evacuation of citizens during a local emergency, but the Governor may exercise the Governor's authority over such an evacuation if the Governor believes the emergency is beyond local control or constitutes a "state of emergency." 1983 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 83-60.


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