§ 28.002.Applicability of Chapter

A short applicability provision whose final clause is the whole point.

The chapter applies only to a civil action regarding the activities of a defense contractor, regardless of whether the contractor is a party.

"Only" narrows and "regardless" widens, and the two clauses work in opposite directions on purpose.

The narrowing is by subject matter. This is not a general litigation funding disclosure statute. Texas has no such requirement for ordinary civil cases, and the chapter reaches one category of litigation only.

The widening is by party. Requiring the contractor to be a party would make the chapter easy to sidestep: a case aimed at a defense contractor’s activities can be framed against a subcontractor, a supplier, an employee, or an affiliated entity, with the contractor never named.

"Regarding the activities of" reaches the case whatever the caption says.

The concern behind the chapter is foreign funding of litigation against the defense industrial base. Its disclosure provisions require the parties to identify who is financing the action and the sources of that funding, on the theory that an adversary state could use civil litigation to obtain information about, or impose costs on, defense contractors.

Because the chapter turns on this definition, its boundary is where disputes will arise — what counts as "regarding the activities of" a defense contractor is not further defined, and the definitions provision supplies the meaning of the contractor itself.

The disclosure obligation, the prohibition on withholding, and the sanctions provision follow.