DEFINITIONS.

In this chapter:

(1) "Board" means a board of directors of a district.

(2) "Bond" means any type of interest-bearing obligation, including a bond, note, bond anticipation note, certificate of participation, lease, contract, or other evidence of indebtedness.

(3) "Commission" means the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

(4) "Disadvantaged business" means:

(A) a corporation formed for the purpose of making a profit and at least 51 percent of all classes of the shares of stock or other equitable securities of which are owned by one or more persons who are socially disadvantaged because of their identification as members of certain groups that have suffered the effects of discriminatory practices or similar insidious circumstances over which they have no control, including black Americans, Hispanic Americans, women, Asian Pacific Americans, and American Indians;

(B) a sole proprietorship formed for the purpose of making a profit that is owned, operated, and controlled exclusively by one or more persons described by Paragraph (A);

(C) a partnership that is formed for the purpose of making a profit, in which 51 percent of the assets and interest in the partnership is owned by one or more persons described by Paragraph (A), and in which minority or women partners have a proportionate interest in the control, operation, and management of the partnership affairs;

(D) a joint venture between minority and women's group members formed for the purpose of making a profit and the minority participation in which is based on the sharing of real economic interest, including equally proportionate control over management, interest in capital, and interest earnings, other than a joint venture in which majority group members own or control debt securities, leasehold interest, management contracts, or other interests;

(E) a supplier contract between persons described in Paragraph (A) and a prime contractor in which the disadvantaged business is directly involved for the manufacture or distribution of the supplies or materials or otherwise for warehousing and shipping the supplies; or

(F) a person certified as a disadvantaged business by:

(i) this state;

(ii) a political subdivision of this state; or

(iii) a regional planning commission, council of governments, or similar regional planning agency created under Chapter 391.

(5) "District" means a management district created under this chapter.

(6) "Mass transit" means transportation of passengers and their hand-carried packages or baggage by motorbus, trolley, coach, street railway, rail, suspended overhead rail, elevated railway, subway, people mover, automobile, or any other surface, overhead, or underground transportation or any combination of the preceding and includes stations or terminals and public parking facilities and facilities incidental to or related to any of the preceding, including commercial or shopping areas.

(7) "System" means all real and personal property owned or held by a district for mass transit purposes, including land, interests in land, buildings, structures, rights-of-way, easements, franchises, rail lines, bus lines, stations, platforms, terminals, rolling stock, garages, shops, equipment, and facilities including vehicle parking areas and facilities, and other facilities necessary or convenient for the beneficial use and access of persons and vehicles to stations, terminals, yards, cars and buses, control houses, signals and land, facilities, and equipment for the protection and environmental enhancement of those facilities.