Terms Used In Vermont Statutes > Title 11 > Chapter 16 - Business Rapid Response to Declared State Disasters

• Critical infrastructure: means property and equipment owned or used by communications networks and electric generation, transmission, and distribution systems; water and wastewater systems; health systems; essential supply chains; thermal fuels and systems; and communications networks, including cellular, broadband, and telecommunications networks. See
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Disaster response period: means a period that begins 10 days prior to the first day of the Governor's proclamation, the President's declaration, or designation by another authorized official of the State as set forth in this chapter, whichever occurs first, and that extends 60 calendar days after the declared State disaster or emergency. See
• Disaster- or emergency-related work: means repairing, renovating, installing, building, rendering services, or other nonretail business activities in areas of the State affected by the declared State disaster or emergency that relate to critical infrastructure that has been damaged, impaired, or destroyed by the declared State disaster or emergency. See
• Fees: shall mean earnings due for official services, aside from salaries or per diem compensation. See
• Impeachment: (1) The process of calling something into question, as in "impeaching the testimony of a witness." (2) The constitutional process whereby the House of Representatives may "impeach" (accuse of misconduct) high officers of the federal government for trial in the Senate.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Mutual Assistance Agreement: means an agreement to which one or more registered businesses and one or more out-of-state businesses are party and pursuant to which an electric or telephone utility may request and receive assistance from an out-of-state business for performance of disaster- or emergency-related work by the out-of-state business during the disaster response period. See
• Out-of-state business: means a business entity that, except for disaster- or emergency-related work, has no presence in the State and conducts no business in the State whose services are requested pursuant to a Mutual Assistance Agreement by a registered business or by a State or local government for purposes of performing disaster- or emergency-related work on critical infrastructure in the State. See
• Out-of-state employee: means an employee who does not work in the State, except for disaster- or emergency-related work during the disaster response period. See
• Person: shall include any natural person, corporation, municipality, the State of Vermont or any department, agency, or subdivision of the State, and any partnership, unincorporated association, or other legal entity. See
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• registered business: means a business entity that is currently registered with the Secretary of State to do business in the State prior to the declared State disaster or emergency. See
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States may apply to the District of Columbia and any territory and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• 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.