Texas Health and Safety Code
§ 81.085 — AREA QUARANTINE; CRIMINAL PENALTY
HS § 81.085Title 2. HEALTH · Part D. PREVENTION, CONTROL, AND REPORTS OF DISEASES; PUBLIC HEALTH DISASTERS AND EMERGENCIES · Ch. 81. COMMUNICABLE DISEASES; PUBLIC HEALTH DISASTERS; PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCIES · Art. E. CONTROL; PUBLIC HEALTH DISASTERS; PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCIES
Statute text
View on source(a)If an outbreak of communicable disease occurs in this state, the commissioner or one or more health authorities may impose an area quarantine coextensive with the area affected. The commissioner may impose an area quarantine, if the commissioner has reasonable cause to believe that individuals or property in the area may be infected or contaminated with a communicable disease, for the period necessary to determine whether an outbreak of communicable disease has occurred. A health authority may impose the quarantine only within the boundaries of the health authority's jurisdiction.
(b)A health authority may not impose an area quarantine until the authority consults with the department. A health authority that imposes an area quarantine shall give written notice to and shall consult with the governing body of each county and municipality in the health authority's jurisdiction that has territory in the affected area as soon as practicable.
(c)The department may impose additional disease control measures in a quarantine area that the department considers necessary and most appropriate to arrest, control, and eradicate the threat to the public health. Absent preemptive action by the department under this chapter or by the governor under Chapter 418, Government Code (Texas Disaster Act of 1975), a health authority may impose in a quarantine area under the authority's jurisdiction additional disease control measures that the health authority considers necessary and most appropriate to arrest, control, and eradicate the threat to the public health.
(d)If an affected area includes territory in an adjacent state, the department may enter into cooperative agreements with the appropriate officials or agencies of that state to:
(1)exchange morbidity, mortality, and other technical information;
(2)receive extrajurisdictional inspection reports;
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Legislative history
Acts 2013, 83rd Leg., R.S., Ch. 314 (H.B. 1690), Sec. 4, eff. June 14, 2013.