Texas Proposal to Ban Chinese Land Purchases Softened Amid Criticism

'Who controls the food supply controls the people'

Fields waiting to be irrigated are pictured in Quemado, Texas, on Feb. 22, 2023. Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Legislation in Texas that would ban citizens and entities from China and three other countries from buying property in the state has been softened in response to opposition from critics and some state Democrats.

Senate Bill 147 (pdf), authored by Republican state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, would ban citizens, companies, and government entities from China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia from buying “real property” in Texas. The bill, which was first introduced in November 2022, was supported by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican.

On March 2, Kolkhorst unveiled a substitute version (pdf) of her original measure and detailed how certain individuals would be excluded from the ban during a Senate committee hearing.

According to the substitute version, “real property” includes land, improvements, mines and quarries, mineral deposits, and standing timber.

The substitute bill makes “crystal clear that the prohibitions do not apply to United States citizens and lawful permanent residents, including dual citizens,” according to Kolkhorst.

The ban on real estate holdings also wouldn’t affect a residential homestead owned by individuals, she noted, explaining that this addresses “concerns [of] those who have fled these regimes to live the American dream and seek a home in Texas.”

Kolkhorst said the bill also includes an “enforcement mechanism” for removing prohibited entities’ ownership of real estate titles.

“The attorney general is given authority to investigate potential violations and then bring a divestment proceeding before a court of law,” she said. “Once a judge finds the entity in violation, they order the real estate into receivership under existing receivership procedures.”

The substitute bill “provides common-sense guardrails to protect food, energy, and national security, while at the same time, it keeps alive the American dream of homeownership to all,” Kolkhorst said.

Democrat Criticism

Kolkhorst rejected Democrats’ criticism that labeled her legislation as racist.

“I reject any notion, any notion that this is a racist bill,” she said. “This is about national security, at the heart and soul of it, it is about food protection, it is about mineral protection.

“It is about making sure that we do not have what we saw in North Dakota, with a corn mill factory being proposed right there next to one of our military bases.”

The state lawmaker was referring to a plan by Fufeng Group, a China-based agribusiness with ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), to build a corn mill in Grand Forks, North Dakota—which is located about a dozen miles from a U.S. military base. The plan was struck down in early February when the Grand Forks City Council voted unanimously to terminate the construction plan.

“Let me be clear: the citizens of the state of Texas understand the threat which we are under,” Kolkhorst said. “They are crystal clear about it—Democrats, Republicans, and independents.”

The effort to pass the legislation in Texas has drawn applause from U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

“As the spy balloon revealed, the Chinese Communist Party knows no bounds when it comes to espionage, and they are already making dangerous moves to secure land near our military bases,” McCaul said in a March 2 statement. “I’m thankful Texas has champions like Senator Lois Kolkhorst working in our state legislature to protect our great state and its citizens from those who would do us harm.”

Debate

Several speakers testified at a Texas state Senate committee hearing on March 2 regarding the proposal.

According to Alice Yi, a senior strategy consultant at Asian Texans for Justice, Kolkhorst’s legislation is discriminatory.

“It would put all people who look like me, any Asians, into third-class citizenship, because we would have to prove our immigration status and where we come from when we want to purchase any land or a house,” she said during her testimony.

Bob Fu, founder of the Christian human rights group China Aid, urged that Senate Bill 147 be passed “without reservation.”

“This bill has nothing to do with race, ethnicity, or even nationality,” he said. “It’s about the core of our national security.

“The [Chinese] Communist Party has become our No. 1 existential threat to our way of life, to our freedom. We cannot allow the CCP to have a stronghold with land purchases.”

Cooper Little, executive director of the Independent Cattlemen’s Association of Texas, also testified in support of Senate Bill 147. He said that without the measure, adversarial countries—and particularly China—could continue to purchase arable lands and property suitable for raising livestock in the state.

“A continuation of the current pattern of adversarial agricultural land acquisitions will clearly diminish the opportunity for Texans and other well-intended individuals from entering and reentering the business of production agriculture—simply due to the lack of land availability,” he said.

“Who controls the food supply controls the people, and with that, we respectfully request passage of [Senate Bill] 147.”