A Texas disaster declaration is a formal order — issued by a mayor or county judge, by the Governor, or by the President — that activates emergency powers and triggers a specific set of benefits, deadlines, and legal protections for people in the affected area. Which declaration is in force matters, because each one unlocks different things. A local declaration mostly controls evacuations and movement. A Governor’s declaration turns on price-gouging penalties and property tax relief. A presidential declaration opens the door to FEMA grants, SBA loans, disaster unemployment, and IRS deadline postponements.
The Three Kinds of Declarations and Who Issues Them
A local declaration is usually first. The presiding officer of a city or county — typically the mayor or county judge — can declare a local state of disaster without waiting on the Governor. That declaration activates the jurisdiction’s emergency plan and authorizes the official to order evacuations and control who enters, leaves, and occupies buildings in the disaster area. It expires automatically after seven days unless the city council or commissioners court votes to extend it. If a county judge and a mayor issue conflicting orders for the same area, the county judge’s order controls.1State of Texas. Texas Government Code 418.108
The Governor can declare a state of disaster by executive order or proclamation under Texas Government Code Section 418.014 whenever a disaster has occurred or is imminent. The order has to describe the nature of the disaster, name the threatened area, and explain what prompted it. A gubernatorial declaration lasts up to 30 days unless renewed, and the Legislature can end it at any time by statute.2State of Texas. Texas Government Code 418.014 – Declaration of State of Disaster
When state and local governments cannot handle the response on their own, the Governor can ask the President for a major disaster declaration under the Stafford Act. The request must certify that Texas has already taken action under its own emergency plan and committed state and local resources.3GovInfo. 42 USC 5170 – Procedure for Declaration A presidential declaration is what makes most federal aid available to households.
A note on what a Governor’s declaration does not do to your rights: the Governor can suspend state regulatory statutes and agency rules when strict compliance would hinder the response, but this power targets procedural requirements for conducting state business — things like transportation registration or local budget and property tax deadlines — not substantive legal rights.4Texas Public Law. Texas Government Code 418.016 – Suspension of Certain Laws and Rules
Price Gouging Becomes Illegal Immediately
The moment a disaster is declared, Texas’s anti-price-gouging law under the Deceptive Trade Practices Act is in force. It is illegal to sell or lease necessities at an exorbitant or excessive price during a declared disaster. Necessities include food, fuel, medicine, and lodging, and the statute reaches other necessities too. The law also applies during severe weather warnings issued by the National Weather Service, so you may be protected before any formal declaration.5State of Texas. Texas Business and Commerce Code Chapter 17 – Deceptive Trade Practices
The Texas Attorney General’s consumer protection division enforces the ban. Violators face civil penalties up to $10,000 per occurrence, plus an additional penalty of up to $250,000 when the victim is 65 or older.6State of Texas. Texas Business and Commerce Code 17.47
Property Tax Relief for Damaged Property
If the Governor declares a disaster and your property is in the covered area, Texas Tax Code Section 11.35 provides a temporary property tax exemption for damage you sustained. The exemption applies to improvements on real property, manufactured homes used as dwellings, and business personal property. To qualify, the property has to have at least 15 percent physical damage, as determined by the county’s chief appraiser.7State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 11.35
The chief appraiser assigns a damage level, and each level maps to a fixed exemption percentage:
- Level I: 15 percent of appraised value
- Level II: 30 percent
- Level III: 60 percent
- Level IV: 100 percent
When the disaster hits partway through the tax year, the exemption is prorated based on the days left in the year after the Governor’s declaration. The exemption expires on January 1 of the first tax year in which the property is reappraised.7State of Texas. Texas Tax Code 11.35
If You Rent and the Property Is Damaged
Texas Property Code Section 92.054 governs rental property casualty loss. If the home becomes totally unusable for residential purposes and the damage was not caused by you or your guests, either you or the landlord can end the lease by giving written notice at any time before repairs are completed. You are then entitled to a pro rata refund of rent from the move-out date and a full refund of the security deposit.8Texas Public Law. Texas Property Code 92.054 – Casualty Loss
When the property is only partially unusable, you can seek a proportionate rent reduction. Unless the landlord agrees voluntarily, that reduction requires a judgment from a county or district court. If the landlord instead uses the separate authority under Section 92.055 to close the premises entirely, a tenant who has given proper repair notice and moves out before the lease ends is entitled to actual moving expenses, a pro rata rent refund, the security deposit, and potentially additional damages and attorney’s fees.
One protection tenants often miss: if the landlord moves you to a different unit in the same complex after a disaster, the landlord cannot force you to sign a new lease that extends past your original lease end date.
Federal Help After a Presidential Declaration
A presidential major disaster declaration is what opens up direct federal help to individuals and households.
FEMA Individual Assistance
FEMA Individual Assistance provides financial help to households with disaster-related damage and uninsured or underinsured needs they cannot meet on their own. Housing assistance includes money to rent temporary housing, grants to repair owner-occupied homes to a safe and livable condition, and help to replace destroyed homes. The President can also provide temporary housing units directly when no rental housing is available locally.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 5174 – Federal Assistance to Individuals and Households Beyond housing, the program covers other serious disaster-caused needs such as medical and dental expenses, funeral costs, and essential personal property replacement. The maximum grant is adjusted annually, so the cap depends on the fiscal year of the declaration.10FEMA. Individual Assistance
FEMA cannot duplicate benefits you receive from other sources. If your insurance covers the same loss, the insurance payment is subtracted from your FEMA assistance, and the total combined aid cannot exceed the fair market value of your property before the disaster. One distinction worth knowing: insurance payments for real property (your home’s structure) are deducted from FEMA grants, but insurance payments for personal property (furniture, clothing, electronics) are not.11FEMA. Duplication of Benefits Fact Sheet
SBA Disaster Loans
The Small Business Administration’s disaster loans are available in any area covered by a presidential disaster declaration, and despite the agency’s name they are not limited to businesses. Homeowners can borrow up to $500,000 to repair or restore a primary residence, and up to $100,000 to replace damaged personal property. Businesses can borrow up to $2 million through a physical disaster loan for property repair, or up to $2 million through an Economic Injury Disaster Loan to cover operating expenses they could have met without the disaster. Interest rates are capped at 4 percent for borrowers who cannot obtain credit elsewhere and 8 percent for those who can. Terms run up to 30 years.12Congress.gov. SBA Disaster Loan Program – Frequently Asked Questions
Economic Injury Disaster Loans have a higher bar. The business has to demonstrate “substantial economic injury,” meaning it cannot meet its financial obligations and pay regular operating expenses because of the disaster. A simple decline in sales or lost expected profits does not qualify, and the business must also show it cannot obtain credit elsewhere.13U.S. Small Business Administration. Economic Injury Disaster Loans
Disaster Unemployment Assistance
A presidential declaration also activates Disaster Unemployment Assistance for workers whose jobs were lost or interrupted as a direct result of the disaster and who do not qualify for regular unemployment insurance. The program fills a gap: it covers self-employed individuals, farmworkers, and others who normally cannot collect state unemployment.14U.S. Department of Labor. Disaster Unemployment Assistance
Benefits last up to 26 weeks from the date of the declaration. You have to file your initial application within 30 days of the disaster announcement through the Texas Workforce Commission, even if you have evacuated to another state. To qualify, you must be unemployed because the disaster destroyed your workplace, made it unreachable, or caused an injury preventing you from working.15eCFR. 20 CFR Part 625 – Disaster Unemployment Assistance
Debris Removal From Private Property
Debris on private property is normally the owner’s problem. After a presidential declaration, FEMA may fund debris removal from private property when the debris is so widespread it threatens public health and safety or the community’s economic recovery. Three conditions must all be met: the removal has to serve the public interest rather than just benefit individual owners, it has to eliminate an immediate threat to lives or public health, and the debris has to result from the declared disaster within the designated area.16FEMA. Public Assistance Category A – Debris Removal Including Private Property Debris Large commercial properties like shopping centers and industrial facilities are excluded and remain responsible for their own debris.
IRS Deadline Relief and Casualty Loss Deductions
When the President declares a disaster, the IRS typically postpones filing and payment deadlines for taxpayers in the affected area. The exact extension varies by disaster, but postponements commonly cover individual and business returns, estimated tax payments, and payroll deposits. The IRS identifies affected taxpayers automatically based on their address, so you do not need to call or file anything extra. If you live outside the designated area but are still affected — for example, your tax records were in the disaster zone — you can call the IRS disaster hotline at 866-562-5227 to request relief.17Internal Revenue Service. IRS Announces Tax Relief for Taxpayers Impacted by Severe Winter Storms
Since 2018, personal casualty losses are deductible on your federal return only when they result from a federally declared disaster. The loss amount is the lesser of the property’s adjusted basis or the decrease in its fair market value, reduced by any insurance reimbursement. For standard personal casualty losses, you subtract $100 per event and then subtract 10 percent of your adjusted gross income from the total, and you must itemize on Schedule A.18Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 515 – Casualty, Disaster, and Theft Losses
Qualified disaster losses get better treatment. You can deduct them without itemizing, the 10 percent AGI threshold does not apply, and you subtract only $500 per event after accounting for salvage value and reimbursements. You also have the option to claim the loss on the prior year’s return rather than waiting until you file for the disaster year, which can accelerate your refund. The deadline to make that election is six months after the due date of your return for the disaster year.18Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 515 – Casualty, Disaster, and Theft Losses
Getting Paid When Your Workplace Closes
There is no emergency exception to the Fair Labor Standards Act. Whether your employer has to pay you during a disaster closure depends on your classification.
Non-exempt (hourly) employees are paid only for hours actually worked. If the business shuts down and you do no work, your employer has no federal obligation to pay you for that time, though the employer can require you to use accrued paid time off.
Exempt (salaried) employees have stronger protection. If you work any portion of a workweek, your employer must pay your full salary for that week, even if the office was closed for several days. The employer cannot dock your pay for partial-day absences. The only situation where an exempt employee’s salary can be withheld is when the business closes for an entire workweek and the employee performs no work at all during that week.
Overtime rules stay fully in effect. Any non-exempt employee who works more than 40 hours in a week during disaster response or cleanup is owed time-and-a-half, no matter the circumstances.