SEN. KOLKHORST FILES BILL TO STOP FOREIGN GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP OF TEXAS LANDS
State Senator Lois Kolkhorst has filed legislation in an effort to prevent foreign governmental ownership of Texas lands.
a Legislative Wrap-Up Forum December 7, 2021 at
Blinn College in Brenham.
Senate Bill 147 builds on Senate Bill 2116, which passed the Texas Legislature unanimously in 2021 and protects critical infrastructure against contracts with certain countries. SB 147 names China, Iran, North Korea and Russia as countries prohibited from future purchases of Texas lands.
If passed, SB 147 would forbid any future purchase of or acquiring the title to real property in the state of Texas by governments or entities affiliated with those countries or their citizens.
In a press release announcing the bill’s filing, Kolkhorst cites the purchase in 2021 of over 130,000 acres near Laughlin Air Force Base in Del Rio by a Chinese-controlled firm for a windmill project. She also points to similar large land purchases by Chinese-backed companies in Florida and North Dakota.
Kolkhorst says, “The growing ownership of Texas land by some foreign entities is highly disturbing and raises red flags for many Texans.” She says passage of this law “delivers some basic safeguards to ensure Texans remain in control of Texas land.”
The acquisition of land in Texas by foreign individuals and companies has been going on for years. 5 years ago, the Austin American Statesman ran an article on the issue before some proposed legislation came about. Link below.
In 1994, the Texas Supreme Court did not find that there was any reason to bar foreign owners from purchasing and holding land. One of the members of the Supreme Court at that time was John Cornyn.
Possibly, the legislature could come to some agreement and draft a law that would be much like that of Iowa, which prohibits any foreign ownership of land. Many other primarily agricultural states limit aliens from buying or possessing land while they have yet to become citizens. I’m sure Washington County would have many cases like that. Before World War II, some states limited the land that a foreigner/alien/non-citizen could own to one acre, and it had to be used as their place of residence.
I would hope that the legislature could prevent foreign nationals and companies, as well as real estate brokers, from obtaining or selling land respectively; the issue might very well surface if infrastructure needed to be developed and the land was used to block benefits to the state and its citizens.
https://www.statesman.com/story/news/2017/07/14/texas-leads-us-in-number-of-farms-it-also-leads-in-foreign-bought-agricultural-land/10125674007/
Why not add California to the list?
We need to ban the Mexican drug cartels and any other criminal gangs from buying land in Texas as well. Why were these criminals left off the list? They have a seat at the table with all our enemies.