§ 150A.001.Definitions

Three borrowed definitions for a two-section chapter.

"Governmental unit" takes its meaning from the Tort Claims Act definitions provision — a broad term covering the state, its agencies, and every political subdivision including cities, counties, school districts and special districts.

"Religious organization" means an organization qualifying as one under Section 11.20 of the Tax Code, and "religious worship" takes its meaning from the same provision.

Borrowing rather than drafting is the right choice here. Deciding what counts as a religion, or as worship, is constitutionally fraught, and the Tax Code standard is already administered and litigated.

The same borrowing appears in the juror continuance chapter, which defines a religious organization the same way.

The three definitions between them fix both sides of the chapter’s single rule: which bodies are restrained, and whose sermons are protected.

Note that "religious leader" is not defined, though the operative section uses it. The term does its own work, and the section is keyed to the sermon having been delivered during religious worship of a religious organization rather than to the speaker’s title or ordination.

The chapter was added after a controversy over subpoenas issued to pastors, and its narrow definitions reflect the specific problem it was written to prevent.