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The Blast - May 14, 2025 [1]

['The Texas Tribune']

Date: 2025-05 

WHERE THE FOREIGN-OWNED LAND BILL NEGOTIATIONS STAND

The Texas Senate has moved to not concur on Senate Bill 17, the bill cracking down on foreign ownership of land, but state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst says the bill is in a better place than when it left the Senate.

By not concurring on the House’s amendments, the Senate called for House and Senate negotiators to conference over the bill, allowing them to reach an agreement over what language should remain.

“I will tell you that I believe that they made the bill stronger,” the Brenham Republican said. “When finally passed, Senate Bill 17 will be the most comprehensive legislation in the country barring foreign hostile nations and their agents from acquiring and owning Texas land and natural resources.”

Early in the House’s floor debate, Reps. Matt Shaheen, R-Plano, and Angie Chen Button, R-Garland, successfully added an amendment that limits the bill’s restrictions regarding individual owners so that it applies only to people who are living in the United States lawfully. Members of the House’s conservative flank fought that change, arguing that it would gut the bill.

The following day, a majority of the House backed a pair of amendments that would have reverted those changes. Even Shaheen and Button supported the more nuanced of the revisions. However, as those amendments came on “third reading,” they needed two-thirds support to pass. That left the Senate as conservatives’ last hope to undo the amendment.

“There are people that feel like being on a tourist visa and being able to purchase multiple pieces of property could be an issue,” Kolkhorst said.

For Democrats, one major point of contention was a successful amendment brought by Rep. Nate Schatzline, R-Fort Worth, that would allow the governor to add countries to the list of restricted nationalities,

“That is what the amendment reads,” Kolkhorst said plainly, not indicating whether she supports the change or not.

“Wow, I’m glad you’re not concurring,” Sen. José Menéndez, D-San Antonio, said.

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[1] Url: https://thetexastribune.beehiiv.com/p/the-blast-may-14-2025-f60316fc8ef4922c

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