§ 140B.001.Definitions

Seven definitions, and the first and fourth carry the most weight.

"Beneficial interest" covers a person’s interest as a beneficiary under a Texas Trust Code trust whose trustee holds legal or record title to real property, under any other trust arrangement to the same effect, or under any other form of express fiduciary arrangement where someone else holds title for that person’s benefit.

The point is to reach property a defendant controls but does not own on paper. Land held in a trust is not held in the beneficiary’s name, and without this definition the forfeiture provisions would stop at the trustee.

The exclusion is as deliberate as the inclusion: a shareholder’s interest in a corporation and a partner’s interest in a general or limited partnership are not beneficial interests. Ownership of a company is not ownership of the company’s land.

"Investigative agency" means the Department of Public Safety, the attorney general, or a local prosecutor — and "local prosecutor" means a district attorney, criminal district attorney, or county attorney with felony criminal jurisdiction.

Three-way authority is what distinguishes this chapter from the trafficking racketeering chapter, where the attorney general acts alone. Here the state police and every felony prosecutor in Texas can investigate and, in most instances, sue.

"Cash or cash proceeds" takes in damages, penalties, or any other monetary payment, monetary proceeds from property forfeited under Subchapter C, and any payment made by a defendant by reason of a decree or settlement.

"Enterprise" is the familiar formulation — a legal entity, group of individuals associated in fact, or a combination — and "real property" includes any interest in real property, including any lease or mortgage.