§ 101.055.Certain Governmental Functions

Three exclusions, and the third removes a whole field of litigation.

Tax assessment and collection. The chapter does not apply to a claim arising in connection with the assessment or collection of taxes by a governmental unit. Tax disputes have their own remedies in the Tax Code, and this keeps them out of tort.

Emergency response. No claim arises from the action of an employee while responding to an emergency call or reacting to an emergency situation if the action complies with the laws and ordinances applicable to emergency action — or, absent such a law, if the action is not taken with conscious indifference or reckless disregard for the safety of others.

Note the structure. Where an emergency-action law exists, compliance with it is the test; where none does, the standard becomes conscious indifference or reckless disregard, which is far above negligence. An ambulance or patrol car responding to a call is judged by whether it followed the emergency rules, not by whether it drove carefully.

Police and fire protection. The chapter does not apply to a claim arising from the failure to provide or the method of providing police or fire protection.

This is the broadest exclusion in the Act. "Failure to provide" covers not responding, not investigating, not preventing. "Method of providing" covers how a department deploys officers, how it staffs, how it trains, and what tactics it uses.

Between them, the two phrases remove most claims that a city's policing or fire service was inadequate. What remains is the individual negligent act that is not a matter of method — a patrol car collision, for instance, which is a motor vehicle claim.