Terms Used In Arizona Laws > Title 11 > Chapter 3 > Article 12 - County Medical Examiner

• Action: includes any matter or proceeding in a court, civil or criminal. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Active management area: means an active management area established under Title 45, Chapter 2, Article 2. See Arizona Laws 48-4401
• Active management area: means an active management area established under Title 45, Chapter 2. See Arizona Laws 48-4801
• Adjusted groundwater: means the number computed by subtracting the excluded groundwater withdrawn in the district by a district member from all groundwater withdrawn in the district by the district member for non-irrigation use. See Arizona Laws 48-4401
• Administrative costs: means the compensation and employment related expenses of the officers and administrative employees of the district, the compensation and reimbursements of members of the board of directors, operation and maintenance expenses and acquisition costs of property, equipment and other materials that the district acquires for administrative purposes. See Arizona Laws 48-4401
• Alternate medical examiner: means a physician who has training and competence in the principles of death investigation and who performs or directs the conduct of death investigations. See Arizona Laws 11-591
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Authority: means a regional public transportation authority organized under this chapter. See Arizona Laws 48-5101
• Autopsy: means a surgical procedure in which internal organs are exposed, removed or examined for the identification of trauma or natural disease. See Arizona Laws 11-591
• Board: means the board of directors of a groundwater replenishment district. See Arizona Laws 48-4401
• Board: means either the initial board of directors or the permanent board of directors of a district. See Arizona Laws 48-4801
• Board: means the board of directors of a regional public transportation authority. See Arizona Laws 48-5101
• Bond related expenses: means any expenses incurred by the district to issue and administer its bonds including underwriting fees and costs, trustee fees, financial consultant fees, printing and advertising costs, paying agent fees, transfer agent fees, legal, accounting, feasibility consultant and other expert fees and expenses, cost of credit enhancement fees, attorney and accounting fees and expenses related to credit enhancement, bond insurance or liquidity enhancement, remarketing fees, rating agency fees and costs, travel and telephone expenses and all other fees deemed necessary by the board in order to market and administer the bonds. See Arizona Laws 48-4541
• Bonds: means bonds of the district issued pursuant to this article. See Arizona Laws 48-4541
• Capacity costs: means the cost of acquiring, constructing or leasing replenishment facilities, including any necessary land, any facilities that are necessary to treat water and facilities that are required to transport water to a treatment facility or replenishment area that is operated, owned or leased by a district, including interest on any amount that was borrowed to acquire, lease or construct the facilities. See Arizona Laws 48-4401
• CERCLA: means the comprehensive environmental response, compensation, and liability act of 1980, as amended (P. See Arizona Laws 48-4401
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Credits: means any groundwater in addition to the amount of groundwater that may be used at a water district member land or delivered within a water district member service area for use within the water district member service area pursuant to the applicable assured water supply rules adopted by the department of water resources. See Arizona Laws 48-4801
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Death investigation: means the investigation directed by a county medical examiner or alternate medical examiner into the circumstances surrounding a death occurring as prescribed in section 11-593. See Arizona Laws 11-591
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Declaration: means an instrument recorded against real property and conforming to the requirements stated in section 48-4975, subsection A, paragraph 4. See Arizona Laws 48-4801
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Director: means the director of water resources. See Arizona Laws 48-4401
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• District: means a groundwater replenishment district established under this chapter. See Arizona Laws 48-4401
• District: means an active management area water district established under this chapter. See Arizona Laws 48-4801
• District water: means water that a district acquires in a calendar year and that exceeds the amount that is necessary to fulfill its contracts for replenishment pursuant to section 48-4470, demand services pursuant to section 48-4472 and replenishment pursuant to section 48-4501. See Arizona Laws 48-4401
• Drought year: means :

  (a) A year in which the district member's actual central Arizona project water supply is less than eighty per cent of the district member's normal central Arizona project water supply, if the district member's actual central Arizona project water supply is also less than the amount of central Arizona project water ordered by the district member from a multi-county water conservation district. See Arizona Laws 48-4401

• Electronic: means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic or similar capabilities. See Arizona Laws 11-487.01
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Excess groundwater: means an amount of groundwater equal to that amount of groundwater delivered to a water district member land in a calendar year or delivered within a water district member service area by the municipal provider for that water district member service area in a calendar year in excess of the amount of groundwater that may be used at the water district member land in that calendar year or may be delivered by the municipal provider for use within the water district member service area in that calendar year consistent with the applicable assured water supply rules adopted by the department of water resources pursuant to section 45-576, subsection H for the active management area where the water district member land or the water district member service area is located. See Arizona Laws 48-4801
• Excluded groundwater: means the amount of groundwater that is withdrawn in the district by a district member and that is excluded from the replenishment tax pursuant to section 48-4502, paragraph 1, subdivisions (b) through (e). See Arizona Laws 48-4401
• External examination: means an external inspection of a body. See Arizona Laws 11-591
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Fiscal agent: means a bank or trust company authorized to do business in this state or the county treasurer as designated by the board. See Arizona Laws 48-5101
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Forensic pathologist: means a physician who has successfully completed a pathology residency and a forensic fellowship or has extensive experience performing forensic autopsies in an official capacity. See Arizona Laws 11-591
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Historic annual net natural recharge: means the average annual net natural recharge of the groundwater basin beneath a groundwater replenishment district during a thirty year period, as established by the director in the most recent management plan for the active management area in which the district is located pursuant to Title 45, Chapter 2, Article 9, or a proportionate share established by the director, if the groundwater basin is partially located beneath a district. See Arizona Laws 48-4401
• including: means not limited to and is not a term of exclusion. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Initial board: means the initial board of directors of a district organized under section 48-4803 for the purpose of establishing and managing the district preliminary to its permanent establishment under article 2 of this chapter or its dissolution under section 48-4806, subsection B, paragraph 2. See Arizona Laws 48-4801
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Investigative information: means information received by a medical examiner or alternate medical examiner from law enforcement, witnesses, family members, health care personnel or medical death investigators concerning cause and manner of death. See Arizona Laws 11-591
• Irrigation district: means a political subdivision, however designated, established pursuant to chapter 17 or 19 of this title. See Arizona Laws 48-4401
• 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.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Medical death investigator: means a person trained in the principles of death investigation. See Arizona Laws 11-591
• Medical examiner: means a forensic pathologist who performs or directs the conduct of death investigations. See Arizona Laws 11-591
• member: means a municipality that contains a service area and petitions for the formation of the district or petitions for the expansion of the district pursuant to this title. See Arizona Laws 48-4401
• Month: means a calendar month unless otherwise expressed. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Multi-county water conservation district: means a political subdivision established pursuant to chapter 22 of this title. See Arizona Laws 48-4401
• Municipal provider: means a city, town or private water company. See Arizona Laws 48-4801
• Municipality: means a city or town incorporated or chartered under the constitution and laws of this state. See Arizona Laws 48-4401
• Municipality: means an incorporated city or town. See Arizona Laws 48-5101
• Non-irrigation use: means any use of water, other than on two or more acres of land to produce plants or parts of plants for sale or human consumption or for use as feed for livestock, range livestock or poultry, as those terms are defined in section 3-1201. See Arizona Laws 48-4401
• Nurse practitioner: means a person licensed and certified pursuant to Title 32, Chapter 15. See Arizona Laws 11-591
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Oath: includes an affirmation or declaration. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Operating unit: means a county, city, town, water company or political subdivision, this state, the United States, an Indian tribe or any other public or private entity with which a district has a contractual relationship for the acquisition, delivery, exchange, treatment, storage or recharge of water. See Arizona Laws 48-4801
• Organ procurement organization: means an organization located within this state that meets the requirements of 42 United States Code § 273. See Arizona Laws 11-591
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Parcel of water district member land: means any portion of water district member land for which the county assessor for the county in which the water district member land is located has issued a separate tax parcel number. See Arizona Laws 48-4801
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Pathologist assistant: means a person certified as a pathologist assistant who has graduated from a pathologist assistant training program approved by a national accrediting agency for clinical laboratory sciences. See Arizona Laws 11-591
• Permanent board: means the permanent board of directors of a district organized under section 48-4831. See Arizona Laws 48-4801
• Person: means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency or instrumentality or any other legal or commercial entity. See Arizona Laws 11-487.01
• Person: means an individual, public or private corporation, company, partnership, firm, association, society, estate or trust, any other public organization or enterprise, the United States, any state, territory or country or a governmental entity, political subdivision or municipal corporation organized under or subject to the constitution and laws of this state. See Arizona Laws 48-4401
• Person: includes a corporation, company, partnership, firm, association or society, as well as a natural person. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Physician: means a person licensed pursuant to Title 32, Chapter 13 or 17. See Arizona Laws 11-591
• Population: means the population determined in the most recent United States decennial census or the most recent special census as provided in section 28-6532. See Arizona Laws 48-5101
• Population: means the population according to the most recent United States decennial census. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Process: means a citation, writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Project: means a facility necessary or convenient to obtain, divert, withdraw, transport, exchange, deliver, treat or store water, including rights-of-way, real and personal property, interests in property and improvements to property that are necessary or appropriate to maintain and operate the facilities. See Arizona Laws 48-4801
• Property: includes both real and personal property. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• Public agency: includes this state and any county, city, town, district or other public agency or entity established under the laws of this state or the federal government. See Arizona Laws 48-5101
• Public transportation: means local transportation of passengers by means of a public conveyance. See Arizona Laws 48-5101
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Replenish: means to increase the amount of groundwater in a district either incidentally or through water storage undertaken pursuant to Title 45, Chapter 3. See Arizona Laws 48-4401
• Replenish: means to increase the amount of groundwater in an aquifer through water storage pursuant to Title 45, Chapter 3. See Arizona Laws 48-4801
• Replenishment tax: means the taxes imposed by sections 48-4470, 48-4472 and 48-4501 on district members for the privilege of withdrawing groundwater. See Arizona Laws 48-4401
• Resolution: means a resolution, adopted by the governing body of a city or town, by the board of directors of a private water company that is a corporation, by the general partners of a private water company that is a partnership or by the individual owners of a private water company that is individually owned. See Arizona Laws 48-4801
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See Arizona Laws 11-487.01
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Total water used: means all water that a district member uses or delivers to its customers for non-irrigation use. See Arizona Laws 48-4401
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Uniform Commercial Code: A set of statutes enacted by the various states to provide consistency among the states' commercial laws. It includes negotiable instruments, sales, stock transfers, trust and warehouse receipts, and bills of lading. ^{Source: OCC}
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Arizona Laws 1-215
• User fees: Fees charged to users of goods or services provided by the government. In levying or authorizing these fees, the legislature determines whether the revenue should go into the treasury or should be available to the agency providing the goods or services.
• Water acquisition costs: means the cost of acquiring water for use by the district in fulfilling its replenishment obligations pursuant to sections 48-4470, 48-4472 and 48-4501, including costs of purchase or lease of water, energy costs for transporting water, operation costs, maintenance costs, withdrawal or severance taxes paid in connection with the water, capital costs for headworks, well or transmission facilities constructed at a water source and interest on monies that are borrowed to acquire water. See Arizona Laws 48-4401
• Water company: means either a private water company as defined in section 45-402 or an irrigation district that primarily serves municipal water. See Arizona Laws 48-4801
• Water district groundwater replenishment obligation: means , for the active management area in which water district member lands or water district member service areas are or may be located, the total of the cumulative water district parcel replenishment obligation of all parcels of water district member land in that active management area for a particular calendar year plus the cumulative water district service area replenishment obligation of all water district member service areas in that active management area for a particular calendar year. See Arizona Laws 48-4801
• Water district member land: means any real property that meets the requirements of section 48-4975. See Arizona Laws 48-4801
• Water district member service area: means the service area of a municipal provider that is located in the active management area in which the district is located and that qualifies as a water district member service area under section 48-4981, including any additions to or extensions of the service area. See Arizona Laws 48-4801
• Water district parcel replenishment obligation: means , with respect to any particular parcel of water district member land, an amount of groundwater equal to the amount of groundwater delivered to the parcel of water district member land in a calendar year, multiplied by the percentage that the excess groundwater of the applicable water district member land for that year bears to the total amount of groundwater delivered to the applicable water district member land during that year. See Arizona Laws 48-4801
• Water district service area replenishment obligation: means , with respect to any particular water district member service area, the excess groundwater of that water district member service area in a particular calendar year reduced by the replenishment credits, if any, applied by the municipal provider with respect to the water district member service area under section 48-4973, subsection I. See Arizona Laws 48-4801
• Writing: includes printing. See Arizona Laws 1-215