In some major news out of the Lonestar State in late June, Governor Greg Abbott made Texas the latest state to ban America’s adversaries from buying up real property in the state. To do so, he signed into law Senate Bill 17, which prohibits certain state actors or entities connected to them from buying real property in the state.
That big news came on June 20, when Gov. Abbott signed SB 17, which had been passed by the Texas Legislature on May 31, into law. The law prohibits the acquisition of any interests in real property in Texas by foreign actors, whether they be individuals or entities, associated with certain countries designated as national security risks. Those countries are China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.
Under SB 17, the term “real property” is defined as most residential housing or land for it, commerical real estate, industrial real estate, and agricultural land; it is China’s purchases of the last of those, farmland, that have drawn the most scrutiny and have led to the push for bills like SB 17 and similar state laws in red states across the country.
Further, SB 17 does not just prohibit outright ownership, which would be easy to get around. In addition to banning the aforementioned countries from such acquisitions of the real property types defined above, it bans them from obtaining easements regarding that real property, buying mineral and water rights, or obtaining leaseholds of any sort for one year or more.
Commenting on the importance of the bill and its provisions, the office of Senator Lois Kolkhorst, one of its key sponsors, wrote, “The sweeping legislation addresses growing concerns by many about the foreign ownership of Texas property and its implications for national security. The act prevents entities and individuals of adversarial nations from controlling private land and natural resources in Texas, while ensuring those fleeing oppressive regimes can still find a home in Texas.”
Continuing, the statement indicated what standards the bill uses to determine what entities and individuals are covered by SB 17, providing, “The bill prohibits foreign governmental entities, companies, and individuals from purchasing private property in Texas if they are from countries identified in the latest Annual Threat Assessment reports by the Director of National Intelligence. Currently, those countries are Russia, North Korea, Iran, and China. Using the Annual Threat Assessment allows for flexibility as foreign relations possibly change.”
Senator Kolkhorst, in a personal message about the bill’s importance, said, “As passed, SB 17 is the most comprehensive prohibition on adversarial control of land and natural resources in the US. This legislation will ensure that hostile nations do not control Texas’ most precious assets. This is a matter of national security. Texas must act now to protect our land, food sources, water, and natural resources.”
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Also celebrating the bill was Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrik, who said, “It is common sense and good state policy to prohibit our foreign adversaries from purchasing Texas land. Preventing private property from being sold to entities from adversarial nations is a basic tenet of national security. Many Texans have been increasingly concerned by this growing practice over the last few years. I thank Sen. Kolkhorst for her continued leadership on this essential state and national security issue.”
Watch a late-July Fox Business report on the massive scale at which China is buying up American real estate:
Featured image credit: By World Travel & Tourism Council – Greg Abbott, Governor of Texas, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54703342