Texas lawmakers Tuesday preliminarily approved a bill that bans foreign governments, including China and Iran, from purchasing land in the Lone Star State.
Chinese purchases of American land and farmland has been a major under-the-radar issue in recent years.
Republican state senator Lois Kolkhorst said the legislation is a means to address national security and protect the state.
“Senate Bill 147 strives to put common sense guardrails to protect food and energy and national security, while at the same time, it keeps alive the American dream of homeownership to all, the ability to own a business,” Kolkhorst said.
Governments listed as part of the ban include the aforementioned China and Iran, along with Russia and North Korea.
Those foreign entities, along with companies headquartered within their borders, would be prevented from buying “real property” in Texas.
“They are enemies of the United States and are enemies of Texas,” said state senator Mayes Middleton (R) during debate on the Senate floor.
“And they have realized that frankly, at the end of the day, they can be more successful at hurting this country and hurting this great state through economic means than through the battlefield.”
The governments of China, Russia, North Korea and Iran would not be allowed to purchase land in Texas under a proposal preliminarily passed by the Texas Senate on Tuesday. https://t.co/DlQ1p7o1qa
— Houston Public Media (@HoustonPubMedia) April 25, 2023
RELATED: Republicans Move to Ban Chinese Interests from American Farmland
Originally Sought to Prevent Citizens of China From Buying Land
The bill in question is actually a significantly watered-down version of one that originally would have banned individual citizens of China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia from buying land and homes in Texas.
Still, that hasn’t stopped the media and Democrats from lighting their hair on fire over the legislation.
The Texarkana Gazette has suggested the bill is being “decried as racist and faced widespread condemnation from Asian American Texans.”
Democrat state senator John Whitmire told the Houston Public Media that the Asian-American community is “scared to death” of the bill and Republicans who support it.
After being preliminarily passed, the bill needs to go through one more procedural hurdle before heading to the Texas House. Governor Greg Abbott has said he would sign the legislation if it reaches his desk.
China should own NONE of our farmland. FIVE MILLION ACRES of foreign owned land in Texas alone is a DIRECT THREAT to our national security. I’ve introduced a bill that would STOP this. We need to stop China NOW! There’s too much at risk!! pic.twitter.com/LwPD1GAvEL
— Ronny Jackson (@RonnyJacksonTX) January 28, 2023
Other Moves to Ban Land Purchases
On the national level, Representatives Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Dan Newhouse (R-WA) introduced a bill designed to keep members of the Chinese Communist Party from owning American agricultural real estate.
“Americans should not be forced to rely on China for the food they put on the table,” McMorris Rodgers said.
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“Prohibiting the Chinese Communist Party from purchasing farmland in the United States is a no-brainer that will support domestic food production and decrease our dangerous dependence on foreign adversaries.”
Republicans Move to Ban Chinese Interests from American Farmland
JN: China owns a lot of farmland in OKLA. Some land is less than an hour of OKC and near many, many oil storage tanks.Many pipelines meet in OK.https://t.co/OILPhj67Lf via @TPInsidr
— JOHN NOBLE (@JOHNNOB35752453) February 6, 2023
In Florida, a bill that would ban Chinese nationals from purchasing real estate anywhere in the Sunshine State is currently making its way through the legislature.
Governor Ron DeSantis, a potential GOP candidate for President, has expressed support for the idea.
“We don’t want to have holdings by hostile nations,” he said.
“And so if you look at the Chinese Communist Party, they’ve been very active throughout the Western Hemisphere in gobbling up land and investing in different things.”
A report from the National Association of Realtors revealed that Chinese real-estate investors bought $6.1 billion in real estate in the United States from March of 2021 to March of 2022.
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