§ 100D.001.Definition

One borrowing definition: "malicious solicitation during a disaster" means conduct that constitutes an offense under Section 32.61, Penal Code.

That Penal Code section addresses soliciting money or property by falsely representing that it will benefit a person affected by a declared disaster.

The borrowing technique is the same one the trafficking, compelled prostitution, and methamphetamine chapters use — the civil claim points at the criminal offence and follows any amendment to it.

And as in those chapters, no conviction is required. The definition turns on conduct that constitutes the offence, proved to the civil standard.

The declared-disaster element is what distinguishes this chapter from the fraudulent crowdfunding chapter enacted in the same session. That one covers any campaign run for a named beneficiary with intent to keep the money; this one requires the exploitation of a disaster, and it carries a substantially heavier award — 300 percent against 125.

Disaster fraud is a well-documented pattern. A hurricane, flood, or fire produces both genuine need and an immediate surge of public generosity, and solicitations that reach nobody appear within days.

The timing is what makes the civil claim worth having. Criminal enforcement is slow and selective, and a fraudulent disaster appeal can collect and disperse before any charge is filed. A civil claim with mandatory fees and a treble measure gives someone other than the state a reason to pursue it.

Note that the chapter defines the wrong and leaves everything else to the two sections that follow — who may sue, and what they recover.