SALES BANTexas House Advances Bill That Would Prohibit Land Sales to People and Entities from Certain Countries
The legislation had only pertained to countries the government deemed national security threats. A last-minute change would let the governor add more countries to the ban.
The Texas House agreed late Thursday to let the governor determine the countries whose residents, governments and other entities could be banned from buying property here.
Members granted the governor such power when they amended Senate Bill 17, whose real estate sales restrictions were limited to countries that the U.S. national director of intelligence has designated as national security threats. Currently, that list includes only China, Iran, North Korea and Russia.
After giving the governor the ability to expand the list of restricted countries, the House then gave SB 17 preliminary approval in a 85-60 vote. The bill now heads back to the Senate.
State Rep. Nate Schatzline, the Republican from Fort Worth who introduced the amendment, said the goal was to make sure that any threats to Texas could quickly be addressed.
“Our governor can act swiftly rather than waiting for a year for that to be added into the [director of national intelligence’s] designated country list,” he said.
That amendment drew rebuke from Democrats.
“This gives the governor unfettered power to add whatever county he wants to in this bill,” said state Rep. Gene Wu, chair of House Democratic Caucus. “It’s kind of dangerous to say one person can decide whatever country he or she wants to add to this without any oversight, without any controls — this is the definition of overreach.”
Schatzline’s amendment also allows the governor to bar people “transnational criminal organizations” to the list of entities barred from buying Texas property. Schatzline pointed to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua as an example.
State Rep. Cole Hefner, the Mt. Pleasant Republican carrying SB 17 in the lower chamber, described the bill during Thursday’s hourslong debate as “securing Texas land and natural resources and making sure that this precious resource does not fall prey to adversarial nations and oppressive regimes that wish to do us harm.”
The bill’s advancement came over opposition from Democrats who are concerned that it could be used to potentially discriminate against Asian Americans.
The bill will need one more House vote before it goes back to the Senate. The upper chamber previously approved a version of the bill, but House members amended several key portions of it Thursday.
