The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- Texas
- Level
- State
- Authority
- Tex. Gov't Code § 418.173
- Issued
- 1987-09-01 Sept. 1, 1987
- Effective
- standing (read as 1987-09-01)
- End
- standing (read as 2021-09-30)
- In force
- Standing since Sept. 1, 1987 (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
- Standing duty
- Addressees
- persons generally; employers; owners or persons in control of premises; local officials
- Character
- order penalty
- Collection
- Standing duties: Texas DUT-TX
Operative words
(a) A state, local, or interjurisdictional emergency management plan may provide that failure to comply with the plan or with a rule, order, or ordinance adopted under the plan is an offense. (b) The plan may prescribe a punishment for the offense but may not prescribe a fine that exceeds $1,000 or confinement in jail for a term that exceeds 180 days.
Penalty
Fine to $1,000 and confinement to 180 days (the ceiling); as recited in the orders, $1,000 with confinement through May 6, 2020 and a fine only thereafter
What it required
Compliance with every executive order issued under the State emergency management plan on pain of a criminal offense; GA-14 recited that 'failure to comply with any executive order issued during the COVID-19 disaster is an offense punishable by a fine not to exceed $1,000, confinement in jail for a term not to exceed 180 days, or both' (Ex. TX-008), GA-22 removed confinement from the orders' recital from May 7, 2020 (Ex. TX-015), GA-28 recited a fine 'and may be subject to regulatory enforcement' (Ex. TX-021), and GA-38 applied the same section to local officials (Ex. TX-036).
Retrieval noteGA-29 added its own graduated fine for the face-covering rule: a warning for a first violation and 'a fine not to exceed $250' for each later violation (Ex. TX-022).