§ 134.002.Definitions

Two definitions, and the second is where the chapter’s reach is set.

"Person" means an individual, partnership, corporation, association, or other group, however organized. The closing phrase is deliberately open, so an unincorporated or informal group is within it.

"Theft" means unlawfully appropriating property or unlawfully obtaining services as described by Penal Code Sections 31.03, 31.04, 31.06, 31.07, 31.11, 31.12, 31.13 or 31.14.

Eight offenses, and the list is exhaustive. It reaches ordinary theft (31.03), theft of service (31.04), the bad-check presumption (31.06), unauthorized use of a vehicle (31.07), tampering with an identification number (31.11), and the cargo and mail offenses at the end.

Conduct outside those eight sections is outside the Act, whatever its resemblance to theft. That matters because Penal Code Chapter 31 contains other offenses the list omits.

The borrowing means the civil claim follows the criminal law automatically. An amendment broadening one of the named offenses broadens this chapter the same day, without a word changing here.

No conviction is required. The definition turns on conduct described by those sections, which a civil court decides on the preponderance standard rather than beyond reasonable doubt.