§ 148.001.Definitions

Two definitions setting when the chapter switches on.

"Pandemic disease" takes its meaning from the medical liability chapter’s pandemic provision, which was added in the same 2021 session.

"Pandemic emergency" means a state of disaster declared by the governor under the Government Code’s emergency management chapter in response to a pandemic disease.

The declaration is the switch, and that is the significant design choice. The chapter has no effect until the governor declares, and its protections apply only to conduct during the declared period.

That gives a precise start and end date, which matters for a liability shield: everyone can tell from the public record whether the chapter applied on a given day.

It also places the decision with one official. The chapter operates when the governor says so, and stops when the declaration is lifted.

The chapter was enacted in 2021 as Senate Bill 6, responding to COVID-19 and applying retroactively to claims arising from that pandemic. It is written generally rather than for that disease, so it stands ready for the next declaration.

Note that it does not define "pandemic" itself — it borrows the medical liability chapter’s definition and depends on the governor’s declaration, so the question is answered administratively rather than by litigation.