HB2884

HB2884 adds sworn funding disclosures in civil cases regarding the activities of U.S. defense contractors—even when the contractor is not a party. A covered contractor is an entity producing, manufacturing or providing defense articles or defense services to the U.S. Department of Defense under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. The law does not cover every government supplier or every civil lawsuit. Final law, new Chapter 28.

A claimant must disclose whether the claimant or the claimant’s attorney has directly or indirectly received funding or financial support from an individual, entity or government affiliated with a nation subject to sanctions or an embargo under the Arms Export Control Act, as determined by the U.S. State Department. The sources must be identified. The act does not simply require disclosure of all foreign funding, and its text does not limit the specified financial support to money expressly earmarked for the lawsuit.

The information is required as part of initial disclosures under Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 194, with a continuing duty to update it during the case. The act specifies disclosure no later than ten days after receiving the money or identifying the source, as applicable. Disclosures must be made under oath and filed with the court. Under the act, they cannot be delayed or withheld on privilege or exemption grounds, and a court may not grant a claimant’s motion to limit disclosure of the specified proprietary or confidential funding information. Referenced court rules, Rule 194.

For noncompliance, the court may pause the case until disclosure occurs. If it finds willful noncompliance, it may dismiss the action with prejudice—ending the claim in a way that generally prevents refiling it. These are discretionary sanctions, not automatic dismissal for every mistake, and other legally available sanctions remain possible. The act requires transparency; it does not itself prohibit receipt of the funding or decide the merits of the underlying claim.

The governor signed the act and it took effect May 28, 2025. It applies both to actions then pending in a trial court and to actions filed on or after that date. Official history.