(a) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary:

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 68-2-611

  • County mayor: means and includes "county executive" unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
(1) For the purposes of effectively mitigating the impact of a pandemic, upon declaration of a pandemic by the world health organization and a subsequent declaration of a state of emergency by the governor indicating that the pandemic impacts this state, and until the pandemic ceases to exist, the governor has exclusive jurisdiction to issue executive orders and directives related to the pandemic with respect to each county health department in this state, including a county health department created by private or public act prior to July 1, 1985, or by action of a county legislative body; and
(2) The commissioner of health and a local health department, board, entity, county mayor, or official shall not supersede, vacate, contradict, or refuse to comply with such executive order or directive of the governor issued pursuant to subdivision (a)(1).
(b) For purposes of subsection (a), a pandemic ceases to exist when the governor terminates the state of emergency or allows the declaration of the state of emergency to expire upon finding that the pandemic no longer significantly impacts this state.