Sec. 2007.002. DEFINITIONS

In this chapter:

(1) "Governmental entity" means:

(A) a board, commission, council, department, or other agency in the executive branch of state government that is created by constitution or statute, including an institution of higher education as defined by Section 61.003, Education Code; or

(B) a political subdivision of this state.

(2) "Owner" means a person with legal or equitable title to affected private real property at the time a taking occurs.

(3) "Market value" means the price a willing buyer would pay a willing seller after considering all factors in the marketplace that influence the price of private real property.

(4) "Private real property" means an interest in real property recognized by common law, including a groundwater or surface water right of any kind, that is not owned by the federal government, this state, or a political subdivision of this state.

(5) "Taking" means:

(A) a governmental action that affects private real property, in whole or in part or temporarily or permanently, in a manner that requires the governmental entity to compensate the private real property owner as provided by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution or Section 17 or 19, Article I, Texas Constitution; or

(B) a governmental action that:

(i) affects an owner's private real property that is the subject of the governmental action, in whole or in part or temporarily or permanently, in a manner that restricts or limits the owner's right to the property that would otherwise exist in the absence of the governmental action; and

(ii) is the producing cause of a reduction of at least 25 percent in the market value of the affected private real property, determined by comparing the market value of the property as if the governmental action is not in effect and the market value of the property determined as if the governmental action is in effect.

Added by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 517, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1995.