A controversial Texas Senate bill will change its proposed policy to remove a stipulation that would ban all Chinese citizens from buying homes in the state, according to its author.
Republican state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, who authored Texas Senate Bill 147, is changing course after hearing concerns about her original legislation. Major changes will ensure the property prohibitions in the bill only apply to foreign governments — not individuals seeking to buy homes, she said.
“I have listened to concerns and because of that, the committee substitute will make it crystal clear that dual citizens and legal permanent residents are able to purchase property,” she said in a news release. “In fact, anyone fleeing these authoritarian regimes will be able to purchase a home.”
SB 147, introduced in December, gained support among Republicans like Gov. Greg Abbott for proposing a ban on property ownership for any citizen of North Korea, Iran, Russia or China. In the bill’s original form, that included houses and residences.
“The following may not purchase or otherwise acquire title to real property in this state … an individual who is a citizen of China, Iran, North Korea, or Russia,” the bill currently reads.
But walking back that wording, Kolkhorst said this will no longer be the case. According to the news release, there is a list of changes she plans to introduce when the bill reaches committee Thursday.
The changes will denote that the bill doesn’t apply to the purchase of homestead residences and that dual citizens and permanent residents are completely exempt. “The goal of this bill is to legislate common sense safeguards against Russian, North Korean, Chinese, and Iranian authoritarian regimes,” she said. “It will not apply to those fleeing the tyranny of those governments who seek freedom in Texas. The committee substitute makes important clarifications, so the law targets agents of these adversarial regimes while not harming innocent…
Read the full article here
