§ 102A.0015.Applicability

One sentence closing a gap in coverage.

In this chapter, a reference to a municipality or county includes a public health district created by one or more municipalities or counties.

The problem it addresses is structural. The chapter creates liability for a municipal or county ordinance, order, or rule, and a public health district is neither a municipality nor a county — it is a separate entity the local governments create together.

Without this section, rules adopted by such a district would fall outside the chapter, and a city could achieve through a district what it could not do directly.

The addition is aimed at a live subject. The chapter’s list of preempted fields includes the Health and Safety Code chapters on food establishments and public health, and public health districts are where local regulation in those areas is often made.

"Created by one or more municipalities or counties" is the qualifying description, so the section reaches districts of local origin rather than state agencies.

The provision works in both directions. A district is subject to the cause of action, and the immunity waiver, the notice requirement and the venue rules apply to it in the same terms.

The number itself records the sequence. A section numbered .0015 was inserted between .001 and .002 after the chapter was written, which is how this code accommodates additions.

The technique of extending defined terms rather than rewriting each provision is used throughout the code, and it is why an applicability section this short can change the reach of a whole chapter.