DEFINITIONS.

In this chapter:

(1) "Emergency service organization" means:

(A) a volunteer fire department, rescue squad, or an emergency medical services provider that is:

(i) operated by its members; and

(ii) exempt from state taxes by being listed as an exempt organization under Section 151.310 or 171.083, Tax Code; or

(B) a local emergency management or homeland security organization that is:

(i) formed and operated as a state resource in accordance with the statewide homeland security strategy developed by the governor under Section 421.002, Government Code; and

(ii) responsive to the Texas Division of Emergency Management in carrying out an all-hazards emergency management program under Section 418.112, Government Code.

(2) "Employee" means a person, including an officer or agent, who is in the paid service of a governmental unit by competent authority, but does not include an independent contractor, an agent or employee of an independent contractor, or a person who performs tasks the details of which the governmental unit does not have the legal right to control.

(3) "Governmental unit" means:

(A) this state and all the several agencies of government that collectively constitute the government of this state, including other agencies bearing different designations, and all departments, bureaus, boards, commissions, offices, agencies, councils, and courts;

(B) a political subdivision of this state, including any city, county, school district, junior college district, levee improvement district, drainage district, irrigation district, water improvement district, water control and improvement district, water control and preservation district, freshwater supply district, navigation district, conservation and reclamation district, soil conservation district, communication district, public health district, and river authority;

(C) an emergency service organization; and

(D) any other institution, agency, or organ of government the status and authority of which are derived from the Constitution of Texas or from laws passed by the legislature under the constitution.

(4) "Motor-driven equipment" does not include:

(A) equipment used in connection with the operation of floodgates or water release equipment by river authorities created under the laws of this state; or

(B) medical equipment, such as iron lungs, located in hospitals.

(5) "Scope of employment" means the performance for a governmental unit of the duties of an employee's office or employment and includes being in or about the performance of a task lawfully assigned to an employee by competent authority.

(6) "State government" means an agency, board, commission, department, or office, other than a district or authority created under Article XVI, Section 59, of the Texas Constitution, that:

(A) was created by the constitution or a statute of this state; and

(B) has statewide jurisdiction.