{"data":{"id":"us-ky/krs-39a.020","jurisdiction":"us-ky","citation":"KRS 39A.020","heading":"Definitions for KRS Chapters 39A to 39F.","body":"As used in KRS Chapters 39A to 39F, unless the context requires otherwise:\n(1) \"Adjutant General\" means the executive head of the Department of Military Affairs\nvested with general direction and control authority for the department and the\ndivision of emergency management;\n(2) \"Animal health emergency\" means an incident or situation which poses a major\nthreat to the safety or health of livestock as defined in KRS 246.010, poultry as\ndefined in KRS 246.010, or other domesticated animal so as to cause or thre aten to\ncause the spread of disease, starvation, deadly injury, or other potential loss of life;\n(3) \"Catastrophe\" means a disaster or series of concurrent disasters which adversely\naffect the entire Commonwealth of Kentucky or a major geographical portion\nthereof;\n(4) \"Chief executive officer\" means a:\n(a) County judge/executive of a county;\n(b) Mayor of a consolidated local government;\n(c) Mayor of an urban-county government;\n(d) Chief executive officer of a charter county government;\n(e) Chief executive officer of a unified local government; or\n(f) Mayor of a city;\n(5) \"Comprehensive emergency management program\" means the public safety\nprogram developed, organized, implemented, administered, maintained, and\ncoordinated by the Division of Emergency Management and local emergency\nmanagement agencies created pursuant to the provisions of KRS Chapters 39A to\n39F, to assess, mitigate, prepar e for, respond to, or recover from, an emergency,\ndeclared emergency, disaster, or catastrophe, or threat of any of those, as\ncontemplated in KRS 39A.010 or as defined in this section;\n(6) \"Coordination\" means having and exercising primary state or local e xecutive\nbranch oversight for the purpose of organizing, planning, and implementing;\n(7) \"County\" means a county, urban -county government, charter county government,\nconsolidated local government, or unified local government;\n(8) \"Declared emergency\" means  any incident or situation declared to be an\nemergency, disaster, or catastrophe by executive order of the Governor, or a county\njudge/executive, or a mayor, or the chief executive of other local governments in\nthe Commonwealth pursuant to the provisions of KRS Chapters 39A to 39F;\n(9) \"Director\" means the director of the Division of Emergency Management of the\nDepartment of Military Affairs;\n(10) \"Disaster\" means any incident or situation declared as such by executive action of\nthe Governor, or the President of the United States, pursuant to federal law;\n(11) \"Disaster and emergency response\" means the performance of all emergency\nfunctions, other than war -related functions for which military forces are primarily\nresponsible, including but not limited to: d irection and control, incident command,\nor management; communications; fire protection services; police services; medical\nand health services; ambulance services; rescue; search and rescue or recovery;\nurban search and rescue; engineering; alerting and war ning services; resource\nmanagement; public works services; nuclear, chemical, biological, or other\nhazardous material or substance monitoring, containment, decontamination,\nneutralization, and disposal; emergency worker protection, site safety, site\noperations and response planning; evacuation of persons; emergency welfare\nservices; emergency transportation; physical plant protection; temporary restoration\nof public utility services; emergency lighting and power services; emergency public\ninformation; incident investigation, hazards analysis, and damage assessment; and\nother functions related to effective reaction to a disaster or emergency or\ncatastrophe, or the potential, threatened, or impending threat of any disaster or\nemergency or catastrophe, together  with all other activities necessary or incidental\nto the preparation for and carrying out of the functions set out in this subsection;\n(12) \"Division\" means the Division of Emergency Management of the Department of\nMilitary Affairs;\n(13) \"Emergency\" means any incident or situation which poses a major threat to public\nsafety so as to cause, or threaten to cause, loss of life, serious injury, significant\ndamage to property, or major harm to public health or the environment;\n(14) \"Executive action\":\n(a) Means:\n1. All orders and guidelines related to a COVID -19 declared emergency\nissued by the Governor or any state agency, the President of the United\nStates or any federal agency, or a local governmental agency; and\n2. Industry-specific guidelines related to a C OVID-19 declared emergency\nadopted by a state agency that govern the industry; and\n(b) Does not:\n1. Mean informal or indefinite statements or recommendations made by\ngovernment officials; or\n2. Create a duty of care;\n(15) \"Integrated emergency management s ystem\" means the unified and\nmultidisciplinary disaster and emergency response infrastructure developed in the\nCommonwealth, under the coordination of the division, using methods which align\nstate or local administrative, organizational, and operational re sources, to\naccomplish the mission, goals, and objectives of the comprehensive emergency\nmanagement program of the Commonwealth;\n(16) \"Local disaster and emergency services organization\" means that organization of\npublic and private entities developed to c arry out the multiagency disaster and\nemergency response of a city, county, urban -county or charter county pursuant to\nKRS Chapters 39A to 39F;\n(17) \"Local emergency management agency\" means the agency created, operated, and\nmaintained to coordinate the local comprehensive emergency management program\nand disaster and emergency response of a city, county, and urban -county or charter\ncounty government pursuant to KRS Chapters 39A to 39F;\n(18) \"Local emergency management director\" or \"Local director\" means th e executive\nhead of the local emergency management agency, appointed pursuant to the\nprovisions of KRS Chapters 39A to 39F;\n(19) \"State emergency management agency\" means the Division of Emergency\nManagement of the Department of Military Affairs; and\n(20) \"State emergency management director\" means the director of the Division of\nEmergency Management.","path":["KRS Chapter 39A"],"source_url":"https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=56762","current_through":"Includes enactments through the 2026 Regular Session","vintage":"09/05/2026","retrieved_at":"2026-09-05T20:48:57Z","sha256":"cf8b29845586566f6c54756b2839aeb0b57dcd76a4abea8a81185079e56b6520","source_id":"us-ky","stale":false,"prev":"us-ky/krs-39a.015","next":"us-ky/krs-39a.030"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}