Cal. Government Code - GOV § 8555. Section 8555.
Unless the provision or context otherwise requires, the definitions contained in this article govern the construction of this chapter.
ARTICLE 2. General Definitions [8555. - 8562.]
Cal. Government Code - GOV 2.
in effectCal. Government Code - GOV § 8556. Section 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.
Cal. Government Code - GOV § 8557. Section 8557.
(a)
“State agency” means any department, division, independent establishment, or agency of the executive branch of the state government.
(b)
“Political subdivision” includes any city, city and county, county, district, or other local governmental agency or public agency authorized by law.
(c)
“Governing body” means the legislative body, trustees, or directors of a political subdivision.
(d)
“Chief executive” means that individual authorized by law to act for the governing body of a political subdivision.
(e)
“Disaster council” and “disaster service worker” have the meaning
prescribed in Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 3200) of Part 1 of Division 4 of the Labor Code.
(f)
“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.
(g)
“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 that has a statewide, regional, or local impact.
(h)
For purposes of this chapter, a “deenergization
event” means a planned power outage, undertaken by an electrical corporation, as defined in Section 218 of the Public Utilities Code, to reduce the risk of wildfires caused by utility equipment, pursuant to Public Utilities Commission Resolution ESRB-8 and any decisions issued by the commission, the former Wildfire Safety Division, as set forth in former Section 326 of the Public Utilities Code, the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety, or any other agency with authority over electrical corporations. A deenergization event begins when an electrical corporation provides notice to any state agency or political subdivision of the potential need to initiate a planned deenergization of the electrical grid, and ends when the electrical corporation restores electrical services to all deenergized
customers, or when the electrical corporation cancels the deenergization event for some or all of its affected customers, and rescinds the notice of the potential need to initiate the deenergization event. A deenergization event does not include any planned outages in connection with regular utility work.
Cal. Government Code - GOV § 8558. Section 8558.
Three conditions or degrees of emergency are established by this chapter:
(a)
“State of war emergency” means the condition that 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 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 conditions such as air pollution, fire, flood, storm, epidemic, riot, drought, cyberterrorism, sudden and severe energy shortage,
electromagnetic pulse attack,
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 Public Utilities Commission.
(c)
(1)
“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 conditions such as air pollution, fire, flood, storm, epidemic, riot, drought, cyberterrorism, sudden and severe energy shortage, deenergization event, electromagnetic pulse attack, 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 or deenergization event that requires extraordinary measures beyond the authority vested in the
Public Utilities Commission.
(2)
A local emergency proclaimed as the result of a deenergization event does not trigger the electric utility obligations set forth in Public Utilities Commission Decision 19-07-015 or its successor decisions as related to deenergization events. A local emergency proclaimed as the result of a deenergization event does not alter the electric utilities’ Public Utilities Commission-approved cost-recovery mechanisms for their own costs associated with deenergization events.
Cal. Government Code - GOV § 8559. Section 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.
Cal. Government Code - GOV § 8560. Section 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.
Cal. Government Code - GOV § 8561. Section 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, the various political subdivisions of the state, and federally recognized California Indian tribes, to facilitate implementation of the purposes of this chapter.
Cal. Government Code - GOV § 8562. Section 8562.
(a)
“First responder” means an employee of the state or a local public agency who provides emergency response services, including any of the following:
(1)
A peace officer, as defined in Section 830 of the Penal Code.
(2)
A firefighter, as defined in Section 50925.
(3)
A paramedic, as defined in Section 1797.84 of the Health and Safety Code.
(4)
An emergency medical technician, as defined in Sections 1797.80 and 1797.82 of the Health and Safety Code.
(5)
A public safety dispatcher or public safety telecommunicator. For
the purposes of this paragraph, “public safety dispatcher or public safety telecommunicator” means an individual employed by a public safety agency, as the initial first responder, whose primary responsibility is to receive, process, transmit, or dispatch emergency and nonemergency calls for law enforcement, fire, emergency medical, and other public safety services by telephone, radio, or other communication device, and includes an individual who promotes from this position and supervises individuals who perform these functions.
(b)
(1)
Subdivision (a) shall not confer a right to, or entitlement upon, an employee or prospective employee to obtain a retirement benefit formula for an employment classification that is either not included in, or is expressly excluded from, that formula pursuant to the California Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act of 2013 (Chapter
21 (commencing with Section 7522) of Division 7 of Title 1), the Public Employees’ Retirement Law (Division 5 (commencing with Section 20000)), or the County Employees Retirement Law of 1937 (Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 31450) of Part 3 of Division 4 of Title 3.)
(2)
An employer shall not offer, or indicate an ability to offer, to an employee or prospective employee a retirement benefit formula for an employment classification that is not included in, or is expressly excluded from, that formula pursuant to the California Public Employees’ Pension Reform Act of 2013 (Chapter 21 (commencing with Section 7522) of Division 7 of Title 1), Public Employees’ Retirement Law (Division 5 (commencing with Section 20000)), or the County Employees Retirement Law of 1937 (Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 31450) of Part 3 of
Division 4 of Title 3), because the employment classification is included in subdivision (a).
Source: CA Legislative Counsel Bulk DataURL: https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/pubinfo_2025.zipFetched: 6/27/2026