House Bill 20 | Effective: 12-4-25 |
House Author: Darby et al. | House Committee: Disaster Preparedness & Flooding, Select |
Senate Sponsor: Perry et al. | Senate Committee: Disaster Preparedness & Flooding, Select |
House Bill 20 amends the Government Code, Penal Code, and Civil Practice and Remedies Code to set out provisions regarding a designation program for disaster relief nonprofit organizations and financial institutions. The bill also expands the conduct that constitutes a state jail felony theft offense of unlawfully appropriating property with intent to deprive the owner of property to include conduct wherein property of a certain value was stolen in a disaster area and came into the actor's custody, possession, or control by virtue of the actor's status or purported status as a disaster volunteer, creates the offense of malicious solicitation of a disaster victim or for disaster response or recovery, and makes a person who engages in malicious solicitation during a disaster liable to the donee on whose behalf the payment was collected, the donee's estate, the donor from whom the payment was solicited, or the donor's estate.