§ 75.003.Application and Effect of Chapter

The applicability provision, and the charging condition is what defines who gets the protection.

Except for a governmental unit, the chapter applies only to an owner, lessee, or occupant who: does not charge for entry; charges, but whose total charges in the previous calendar year for all recreational use of the entire premises are not more than 20 times the total ad valorem taxes imposed on the premises for that year; or has liability insurance in the amounts the damages limitation section specifies.

The 20-times formula is the distinctive feature. It lets a landowner charge something without losing the protection, scaled to the property's tax burden — a rough proxy for its value. A modest hunting lease stays within it; a commercial operation does not.

Subsection (h) helps agricultural landowners: not charging because the entrants are invited social guests satisfies the no-charge condition.

The governmental provisions are the ones with the widest effect. The chapter applies to a governmental unit except as otherwise provided; it does not waive sovereign immunity; and to the extent it limits a governmental unit's liability where the unit would be liable under the Tort Claims Act, this chapter controls.

That last provision is what reduces the duty in a public park below the licensee duty the Tort Claims Act otherwise imposes.

Subsection (a) preserves liability for deliberate, wilful, or malicious injury, and subsection (d) confirms the chapter creates no liability — it only limits.

Subsection (b) leaves attractive nuisance intact except as the electric utility and community garden sections provide, and except that it may not be the basis for liability of an agricultural landowner to a trespasser over the age of 16.