The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- Oklahoma
- Level
- State
- Authority
- Laws 2020, SB 1947, c. 160, sec. 1, emerg. eff. May 21, 2020; codified at 76 O.S. 112
- Issued
- 2020-05-21 May 21, 2020
- Effective
- 2020-05-21
- End
- standing (immunities tied to acts 'during and in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency') (read as 2021-09-30)
- In force
- Standing since May 21, 2020 (a statutory duty; in force throughout the six quarters)
- Quarters
- 2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Business closureSupply chainOperating condition
- Addressees
- persons and entities designing, making, selling, distributing or donating PPE and cleaning supplies; 'any business, or the employer or agent of such business' that uses them; government entities, health care facilities and providers, first responders
- Character
- liability shield condition
- Collection
- Standing duties: Oklahoma DUT-OK
Operative words
Essential business means... a. within a critical infrastructure sector as defined by the United States Department of Homeland Security, b. defined as essential by the Oklahoma Department of Commerce through use of the North American Industry Classification System during the COVID-19 pandemic, or c. within an industry designated as critical or essential by Executive Order or Executive Memorandum
Penalty
Loss of immunity under subsection E
What it required
The Legislature codified the Governor's closure architecture as law: the DHS critical-infrastructure sectors, the Commerce NAICS list (Ex. OK-014) and the executive orders and memoranda (Ex. OK-007, OK-008, OK-011) define the class of businesses permitted to operate during the closure period; the Act shields makers, sellers and users of PPE and cleaning supplies, and businesses that 'utilize' such products, from product-liability claims for acts 'during and in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency', which it defines by reference to EO 2020-07 and EO 2020-13 (subsection B.2); the immunity is withdrawn from a person who 'Had actual knowledge that the product was defective when put to the use for which the product was manufactured' and 'Acted with deliberate indifference' (subsection E, verbatim).
Retrieval noteThe statute's phrase 'Essential business' is quoted as the Legislature's defined term; the memoranda use the designation as the premise of the operating conditions imposed on the class, never as a limitation on the credit (Brief C.4). Subsection B.2's description of the emergencies ('Executive Order 2020-07... beginning on March 15, 2020' and 'Executive Order 2020-13... under the Catastrophic Health Emergency Powers Act... beginning on April 8, 2020') is the Legislature's own; the library records the catastrophic health emergency declaration as EO 2020-12 of April 2, 2020 (Ex. OK-012) and EO 2020-13 of April 8, 2020 as the renewed general emergency (Ex. OK-015).