2010 California Code
Government Code
Article 2. General Definitions

8555.  Unless the provision or context otherwise requires, the
definitions contained in this article govern the construction of this
chapter.


8556.  "Governor" means the Governor or the person upon whom the
powers and duties of the office of Governor have devolved pursuant to
Section 10 of Article V of the California Constitution.



8557.  (a) "Emergency Council" means the California Emergency
Council.
   (b) "State agency" means any department, division, independent
establishment, or agency of the executive branch of the state
government.
   (c) "Political subdivision" includes any city, city and county,
county, district, or other local governmental agency or public agency
authorized by law.
   (d) "Governing body" means the legislative body, trustees, or
directors of a political subdivision.
   (e) "Chief executive" means that individual authorized by law to
act for the governing body of a political subdivision.
   (f) "Disaster council" and "disaster service worker" have the
meaning prescribed in Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 3201) of
Part 1 of Division 4 of the Labor Code.
   (g) "Public facility" means any facility of the state or a
political subdivision, which facility is owned, operated, or
maintained, or any combination thereof, through moneys derived by
taxation or assessment.
   (h) "Sudden and severe energy shortage" means a rapid, unforeseen
shortage of energy, resulting from, but not limited to, events such
as an embargo, sabotage, or natural disasters, and which has
statewide, regional, or local impact.



8558.  Three conditions or degrees of emergency are established by
this chapter:
   (a) "State of war emergency" means the condition which exists
immediately, with or without a proclamation thereof by the Governor,
whenever this state or nation is attacked by an enemy of the United
States, or upon receipt by the state of a warning from the federal
government indicating that such an enemy attack is probable or
imminent.
   (b) "State of emergency" means the duly proclaimed existence of
conditions of disaster or of extreme peril to the safety of persons
and property within the state caused by such conditions as air
pollution, fire, flood, storm, epidemic, riot, drought, sudden and
severe energy shortage, plant or animal infestation or disease, the
Governor's warning of an earthquake or volcanic prediction, or an
earthquake, or other conditions, other than conditions resulting from
a labor controversy or conditions causing a "state of war emergency,"
which, by reason of their magnitude, are or are likely to be beyond
the control of the services, personnel, equipment, and facilities of
any single county, city and county, or city and require the combined
forces of a mutual aid region or regions to combat, or with respect
to regulated energy utilities, a sudden and severe energy shortage
requires extraordinary measures beyond the authority vested in the
California Public Utilities Commission.
   (c) "Local emergency" means the duly proclaimed existence of
conditions of disaster or of extreme peril to the safety of persons
and property within the territorial limits of a county, city and
county, or city, caused by such conditions as air pollution, fire,
flood, storm, epidemic, riot, drought, sudden and severe energy
shortage, plant or animal infestation or disease, the Governor's
warning of an earthquake or volcanic prediction, or an earthquake, or
other conditions, other than conditions resulting from a labor
controversy, which are or are likely to be beyond the control of the
services, personnel, equipment, and facilities of that political
subdivision and require the combined forces of other political
subdivisions to combat, or with respect to regulated energy
utilities, a sudden and severe energy shortage requires extraordinary
measures beyond the authority vested in the California Public
Utilities Commission.



8559.  (a) A "mutual aid region" is a subdivision of the state
emergency services organization, established to facilitate the
coordination of mutual aid and other emergency operations within an
area of the state consisting of two or more county operational areas.
   (b) An "operational area" is an intermediate level of the state
emergency services organization, consisting of a county and all
political subdivisions within the county area.



8560.  (a) "Emergency plans" means those official and approved
documents which describe the principles and methods to be applied in
carrying out emergency operations or rendering mutual aid during
emergencies. These plans include such elements as continuity of
government, the emergency services of governmental agencies,
mobilization of resources, mutual aid, and public information.
   (b) "State Emergency Plan" means the State of California Emergency
Plan as approved by the Governor.



8561.  "Master Mutual Aid Agreement" means the California Disaster
and Civil Defense Master Mutual Aid Agreement, made and entered into
by and between the State of California, its various departments and
agencies, and the various political subdivisions of the state, to
facilitate implementation of the purposes of this chapter.