The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- Texas
- Level
- State
- Authority
- Tex. Health & Safety Code § 81.085(a), (c), (e), (h), (j)
- Issued
- 1989-09-01 Sept. 1, 1989
- Effective
- standing (read as 1989-09-01)
- End
- standing (read as 2021-09-30)
- In force
- Standing since Sept. 1, 1989 (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 closureGathering capQuarantine and isolationStanding duty
- Addressees
- persons generally (every person in the quarantine area, including every business)
- Character
- order penalty
- Collection
- Standing duties: Texas DUT-TX
Operative words
A person commits an offense if the person knowingly fails or refuses to obey a rule, order, or instruction of the department or an order or instruction of a health authority issued under a department rule and published during an area quarantine under this section. An offense under this subsection is a felony of the third degree.
Penalty
Third-degree felony: imprisonment of 2 to 10 years and a fine to $10,000 (Penal Code § 12.34, Ex. DUT-TX-019)
What it required
During an outbreak the Commissioner or a health authority may quarantine an entire area and, under subsection (c), impose 'additional disease control measures... necessary and most appropriate to arrest, control, and eradicate the threat to the public health'; subsection (e) makes publication 'sufficient to inform persons in the area of their rights, duties, and obligations under the orders or instructions'; knowing refusal to obey a published order is a third-degree felony, and peace officers may use reasonable force to secure the area (subsection (j)).
Retrieval noteSubsection (c) preserves the Governor's preemptive power under Gov't Code ch. 418, which is the provision through which the Governor's orders displaced local health authority measures (Exs. TX-008, TX-047). Subsection (g) permits a county, municipality or hospital district to suspend elective admissions to provide isolation and quarantine capacity, the local analogue of GA-09 (Ex. TX-004).