My dad, an immigrant from Iran, bought our childhood home before he was a citizen of the United States. My parents still own this home where their four kids grew up, and where their grandkids now splash in the pool and ride their bikes around the driveway. When I read the text of SB 147, a xenophobic bill seeking to prohibit the right to own property based on national origin, I immediately thought of that house and everything it took to get there.
The bill, authored by state Senator Lois Kolkhorst (R-District 18), and co-authored by state Senators Juan Hinojosa (D-District 20), Mayes Middleton (R-District 11), and Drew Springer (R-District 30) targets individuals who are citizens of China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia. Kolkhurst offered revisions to the Senate Committee on State Affairs but they were weak attempts to ameliorate the explicit discrimination against citizens of these countries, conflating their birthplace with their political allegiance and ties. More than 100 people, including myself, coalesced in the committee’s Senate chambers to give testimony against SB 147 and the similar SB 711 on March 2. A little over a month later, on April 13, SB 147 was voted out of the Senate committee on State Affairs with an 8-2 vote, where it now sits on the intent calendar.
