As used in the Strategic Economic Development Site Readiness Act:
A. "department" means the economic development department;
B. "private partner" means an individual, a foreign or domestic corporation, a general partnership, a limited liability company, a limited partnership, a joint venture, a business trust, a public benefit corporation, a nonprofit entity or other private business entity or a combination thereof;
C. "public partner" means the state and the state's branches, agencies, departments, boards, instrumentalities or institutions and all political subdivisions of the state and their agencies, instrumentalities and institutions, including a department, an institution of higher education, a board or a commission, and includes Indian nations, tribes and pueblos; and
D. "secretary" means the secretary of economic development.