Terms Used In Texas Local Government Code 392.002

  • 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.
  • Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
  • Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
  • Municipality: means a general-law municipality, home-rule municipality, or special-law municipality. See Texas Local Government Code 1.005
  • 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.
  • Personal property: All property that is not real property.
  • Property: means real and personal property. See Texas Government Code 311.005
  • Revolving credit: A credit agreement (typically a credit card) that allows a customer to borrow against a preapproved credit line when purchasing goods and services. The borrower is only billed for the amount that is actually borrowed plus any interest due. (Also called a charge account or open-end credit.) Source: OCC
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
  • United States: includes a department, bureau, or other agency of the United States of America. See Texas Government Code 311.005

In this chapter:
(1) “Authority” or “housing authority” means a public corporation created under this chapter.
(2) “Bond” means a bond, note, interim certificate, debenture, or other obligation issued by an authority under this chapter.
(3) “Clerk of the municipality” means the clerk of a municipality or the officer given the duties customarily imposed on the clerk.
(4) “Farmers of low income” means persons or families who, at the time of their admission to occupancy in housing of a housing authority:
(A) live in unsafe or unsanitary housing;
(B) earn their principal income from operating or working on a farm; and
(C) had an aggregate average annual net income for the preceding three years that is less than the amount determined by the housing authority to be necessary, in its area of operation, to obtain, without financial assistance, decent, safe, and sanitary housing without overcrowding.
(5) “Federal government” includes the United States, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and any other agency or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of the United States.
(6) “Housing project” means a work or other undertaking to:
(A) demolish, clear, or remove buildings from a slum area, including a work or other undertaking to adapt an area for use as a park, for another recreational or community purpose, or for any other public purpose;
(B) provide decent, safe, and sanitary urban or rural housing for persons of low income, including buildings, land, equipment, facilities, and other real or personal property for necessary, convenient, or desirable appurtenances, streets, sewers, water service, and parks, or for other purposes, including site preparation, gardening, administrative, community, health, recreational, educational, or welfare purposes;
(C) accomplish a combination of the purposes described by Paragraphs (A) and (B); or
(D) plan buildings and other improvements, acquire property, demolish structures, construct, reconstruct, alter, and repair improvements, and perform other related work.
(7) “Mayor” means the mayor of a municipality or the officer given the duties customarily imposed on the mayor or executive head of a municipality.
(8) “Obligee of the authority” or “obligee” includes:
(A) a bondholder;
(B) a trustee of a bondholder;
(C) a lessor demising to the authority any property used in connection with a housing project;
(D) an assignee of the interest, or part of the interest, of a lessor demising to the authority any property used in connection with a housing project; and
(E) the federal government if it is a party to a contract with the authority.
(9) “Persons of low income” means families or persons who lack the amount of income that an authority considers necessary to live, without financial assistance, in decent, safe, and sanitary housing without overcrowding.
(10) “Real property” means land, including improvements, fixtures, and other property appurtenant to or used in connection with the land and means any other estate, interest, or legal or equitable right in the land, improvement, fixture, or appurtenant property, including a term for years, a lien of any kind, and any indebtedness secured by a lien.
(11) “Slum” means an area that is predominated by housing that is detrimental to safety, health, and morals because of one or more of the following factors:
(A) dilapidation;
(B) overcrowding;
(C) faulty arrangement or design; or
(D) lack of ventilation, light, or sanitary facilities.
(12) “Credit agreement” means a loan agreement, revolving credit agreement, agreement establishing a line of credit, letter of credit, reimbursement agreement, insurance contract, commitment to purchase bonds, purchase or sale agreement, or commitment or other contract or agreement authorized and approved by the governing body of an issuer in connection with the authorization, issuance, security, exchange, payment, purchase, or redemption of bonds or interest on bonds or both.