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2019 SESSION
19103574DPatrons-- Hayes, Adams, D.M., Ayala, Gooditis, Kory, Lopez, Rasoul and Simon
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 44-146.16 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 44-146.16. Definitions.
As used in this chapter, unless the context requires a different meaning:
"Communicable disease of public health threat" means
an illness of public health significance, as determined by the State Health
Commissioner in accordance with regulations of the Board of Health, caused by a
specific or suspected infectious agent that may be reasonably expected or is
known to be readily transmitted directly or indirectly from one individual to
another and has been found to create a risk of death or significant injury or
impairment; this definition shall not, however, be construed to include human
immunodeficiency viruses or tuberculosis, unless used as a bioterrorism weapon.
"Individual" shall include any companion animal. Further, whenever
"person or persons" is used in Article 3.02 (§ 32.1-48.05 et seq.) of
Chapter 2 of Title 32.1, it shall be deemed, when the context requires it, to
include any individual;.
"Disaster" means (i) any man-made disaster, including any condition
following an attack by any enemy or foreign nation upon the United States
resulting in substantial damage of property or injury to persons in the United
States and may be including
by use of bombs, missiles, shell fire, nuclear, radiological, chemical, or
biological means or other weapons or by overt paramilitary actions; terrorism,
foreign and domestic; also incidents involving cyber
systems; and
any industrial, nuclear, or transportation accident, explosion, conflagration,
power failure, resources shortage, or other condition such as sabotage, oil
spills, and other injurious environmental contaminations that threaten or cause
damage to property, human suffering, hardship, or loss of life; and (ii) any
natural disaster,
including any hurricane, tornado, storm, flood, high water, wind-driven water,
tidal wave, earthquake, drought, fire, communicable disease of public health
threat, or other natural catastrophe resulting in damage, hardship, suffering,
or possible loss of life;.
"Discharge" means spillage, leakage, pumping,
pouring, seepage, emitting, dumping, emptying, injecting, escaping, leaching,
fire, explosion, or other releases;.
"Emergency" means any occurrence, or threat thereof,
whether natural or man-made, which results or may result in substantial injury
or harm to the population or substantial damage to or loss of property or
natural resources and may involve governmental action beyond that authorized or
contemplated by existing law because governmental inaction for the period
required to amend the law to meet the exigency would work immediate and
irrevocable harm upon the citizens or the environment of the Commonwealth or
some clearly defined portion or portions thereof;.
"Emergency services" means the preparation for and
the carrying out of functions, other than functions for which military forces
are primarily responsible, to prevent, minimize and repair injury and damage
resulting from disasters, together with all other activities necessary or
incidental to the preparation for and carrying out of the foregoing functions.
These functions include, without limitation, fire-fighting services, police
services, medical and health services, rescue, engineering, warning services,
communications, radiological, chemical and other special weapons defense,
evacuation of persons from stricken areas, emergency welfare services,
emergency transportation, emergency resource management, existing or properly
assigned functions of plant protection, temporary restoration of public utility
services, and other functions related to civilian protection. These functions
also include the administration of approved state and federal disaster recovery
and assistance programs;.
"Hazard mitigation" means any action taken to reduce
or eliminate the long-term risk to human life and property from natural hazards;.
"Hazardous substances" means all materials or
substances which now or hereafter are designated, defined, or characterized as
hazardous by law or regulation of the Commonwealth or regulation of the United
States government;.
"Interjurisdictional agency for emergency
management" is any organization established between contiguous political
subdivisions to facilitate the cooperation and protection of the subdivisions
in the work of disaster prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery;.
"Local emergency" means the condition declared by
the local governing body when in its judgment the threat or actual occurrence
of an emergency or disaster is or threatens to be of sufficient severity and
magnitude to warrant coordinated local government action to prevent or
alleviate the damage, loss, hardship or suffering threatened or caused thereby;
provided, however, that a local emergency arising wholly or substantially out
of a resource shortage may be declared only by the Governor, upon petition of
the local governing body, when he deems the threat or actual occurrence of such
an emergency or disaster to be of sufficient severity and magnitude to warrant
coordinated local government action to prevent or alleviate the damage, loss,
hardship or suffering threatened or caused thereby; provided, however, nothing
in this chapter shall be construed as prohibiting a local governing body from
the prudent management of its water supply to prevent or manage a water
shortage;.
"Local emergency management organization" means an
organization created in accordance with the provisions of this chapter by local
authority to perform local emergency service functions;.
"Major disaster" means any natural catastrophe,
including any: hurricane, tornado, storm, high water, wind-driven water, tidal
wave, tsunami, earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslide, mudslide, snowstorm or
drought, or regardless of cause, any fire, flood, or explosion, in any part of
the United States, which, in the determination of the President of the United
States is, or thereafter determined to be, of sufficient severity and magnitude
to warrant major disaster assistance under the Stafford Act (P.L. 93-288 as
amended) to supplement the efforts and available resources of states, local
governments, and disaster relief organizations in alleviating the damage, loss,
hardship, or suffering caused thereby and is so declared by him;.
"Political subdivision" means any city or county in the
Commonwealth and for the purposes of this chapter, the Town of Chincoteague and
any town of more than 5,000 population that chooses to have an emergency
management program separate from that of the county in which such town is
located;.
"Resource shortage" means the absence,
unavailability or reduced supply of any raw or processed natural resource, or
any commodities, goods or services of any kind that bear a substantial
relationship to the health, safety, welfare and economic well-being of the citizens
of the Commonwealth;.
"State of emergency" means the condition declared by the Governor when in his judgment, the threat or actual occurrence of an emergency or a disaster in any part of the Commonwealth is of sufficient severity and magnitude to warrant disaster assistance by the Commonwealth 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 and is so declared by him.