The bill by Brenham State Senator, Republican Lois Kolkhorst does more than ban investors from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea from buying land, it also prevents people from those nations from doing so.
Houston Representative Gene Wu calls it racist. "There's no reason for this legislation, other than it's an open attack on immigrants."
David Bier with the Libertarian think tank the Cato institute says non-citizens in the US have constitutional rights to property. State governments can't discriminate against people based on their nationality. He says this bill doesn't just apply to non-citizens. "It actually also applies to US citizens who have dual citizenship with any of these countries being targeted. Also it is flagrantly unconstitutional."
Wu, a Democrat, was born in China. Shortly after his family emigrated to the United States. They were green card holders for years and bought a home, all before they became US citizens. "We worked hard, we saved up and we built our American Dream. And that dream for many of the people in this state may come to an end because their ability to build their business, their ability to even buy a home is now in jeopardy."
In a news release Kolkhorst said "The growing ownership of Texas land by some foreign entities is highly disturbing and raises red flags for many Texans." She adds "The past several years have seen more Texans alarmed by the increased acquisition of land by primarily Chinese interests. Examples include the purchase in 2021 of over 130,000 acres in South Texas by a Chinese controlled firm. The massive parcel of land near Laughlin Air Force Base in Del Rio is now owned by a former member of the Chinese communist army."
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller supports the bill. He says "until you're a citizen, you don't get it. You could be a spy."
In 2021, Senator Kolkhorst passed a bill that she says protects critical infrastructure against contracts with certain countries. She says SB 147 would build on that. But Bier says it targets government entities of one of these four countries, as well as citizens. "The effort to restrict the rights of non-citizens or naturalized citizens has not been upheld by the Supreme Court, even during the period where they said separate but equal is the law of the land. This is so beyond anything that's been contemplated even during the most historically racist periods that I'm not worried about that provision being upheld going forward." He says while it has no chance of being enforced "it is a real effort to make Texas seem inhospitable towards these countries."
Wu notes it is also worth mentioning that people from North Korea are political refugees. "Anyone who is in this country from North Korea is here as a lawful refugee, fleeing an oppressive government. And they are now going to be punished again. That is not the American way."
Abbott has already banned the use of TikTok, owned by a Chinese company, on government devices. Several universities in Texas have also banned TikTok from their servers.
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