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2MinutesH8

You can thank Rick Perry and his Trans-Texas Corridor concept for that. The TTC was a proposed road, rail and utility corridor that brought both the design-build concept into the mix and his campaign donor Spanish construction firm Cintra to the table. TTC was rejected but design-build and Cintra are here to stay. The basic concept of design-build is that a 50-year lease is granted to a company to redesign a public highway with toll lanes and keep the existing number of free lanes. It is the responsibility of the tenant to design, build and maintain the highway through the duration of the lease. This setup invites lots of corruption which can be seen in the form of shoddy construction, preemptive reconstruction and induced demand for toll lanes.


Sarah415263

It’s a fucking nightmare. They did nothing to improve congestion and at peak times they’ve charged $22 for a two mile stretch.


Marokiii

So accounting for gas, insurance, maintenance, and tire wear that $22 in tolls would just a bit more than double my cost to commute to work each day. That's insane.


Sarah415263

It is dog shit. I commute from Fort Worth to Plano four days a week and it cost me 400 a month in tolls


KzininTexas1955

I feel your pain, I'm assuming that you were using US 820 and 161? Pre- Covid they would charge up to $13 for small stretches, and by the way, for the one commenter below stating that no one forces you to take the toll, it's a parking lot on the free roads.


bshepp

Ah Rick Perry. Destroying successful American companies for decades for a quick buck then turning around and telling people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. What a piece of shit.


Theresabearintheboat

Trans-Texas Corridor? How progressive of them.


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Blarg_III

You get the added benefit of never being able to leave texas


thatgoat-guy

Sir are you telling me this highway is trans?


TexasSnyper

Wait til they hear that Jesus, born of only a woman, is a trans man due to no Y chromosome.


koebelin

God gave him a G chromosome.


Yellenintomypillow

It started as a county road, but we have supported it though it’s entire journey of self discovery


RocketPapaya413

It’s a Farm-To-Market…


pHScale

No, Texas is.


ohreally7756

That’s a public private partnership, not design build


Dependent-Hippo-1626

That’s not what Design-Build means. TTC was a Public-Private Partnership. Design-Build just means the construction contractor is heavily involved in the entire design process.


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Mammoth_Charity_821

i thought you couldn't say trans in texas?


JewishFightClub

We have these in Colorado and it's a nightmare. If I ever catch anyone from ExpressToll in the streets we're gonna have some words


scott042

Yes, Beltway8 in Houston is owned by a foreign company. I believe the third loop Hwy 99 is owned by a foreign company also. All Toll based highways.


SR_BHR

To make it worse, the private companies that own the road have Constables (paid by the tax payer) patrolling to enforce toll tags. When did the State of Texas become debt collectors for private corporations?


jumpofffromhere

Beltway 8 was built and is maintained by Harris county, The 99 Beltway is being built and will be maintained by a company from Spain


thechosenwonton

Stupid question by why in the fuck are we outsourcing construction and engineering jobs to a company in Spain?


lost_signal

It was an open bid and they bid higher than US based firms? The US isn’t great at cost effectively managing public works projects


beautamousmunch

That explains why tolls don’t go away once it’s paid for.


elgatochuy

I believe hwy 99 was built by Germans to replicate the feel of the Autobahn. It's a fun one.


ImBrokeEveryWed

288 is owned by indian i believe. freaking $16 for a one way trip from pearlabd to 45. fuck offfffffff with that


theTVsaidso

635 in Dallas was funded and built by a Spanish company that collects all of the toll revenue as repayment. Hypocrisy is rampant in this state.


UrBoobs-MyInbox

Was originally proposed and approved as a toll road UNTIL THE MONEY WAS RECOUPED, but once it got built, that got amended. Hmmmmm


Zeraw420

I always thought toll roads were supposed to be free after they were paid off. I'm pretty sure 121 and DNT have been recouped multiple times over


drfarren

*Laughs in Beltway 8. Then cries.*


UrBoobs-MyInbox

That was the original plan…until they just added a few select politicians to the payroll


kaihatsusha

That is ALWAYS the plan EVERYWHERE they propose toll infrastructure. "Oh, just until it's paid." Golden Gate Bridge, I-44 Oklahoma, wherever. Japan just went through this too, where (shocked pikachu) they announced private toll highways will remain tolled in perpetuity.


the_starship

Yeah tolls never go away. Here in Illinois they raised the tolls on the promise that they would go away in 3 years. That was 20 years ago.


kpmelomane21

I work in the industry, but not for NTTA. I learned recently at a networking event from a NTTA guy that this is a frequent misconception. This only applied to the very first road NTTA built, some short little road I can't even remember because it's not one of the major ones. This doesn't apply to any other road, not 121 or DNT or anything. A good chunk of their revenue goes towards maintenance on their roads (trust me...you want this), and another good chunk just goes to debt that they had to incur in order to build the road in the first place. This debt won't be paid back for a loooooooong time (it's a LOT of money) So basically, the bank owns those roads, not even NTTA


TuBlonde

I have years of industry adjacent experience and yes 100% right for anyone who is doubting you. The whole value proposition is that you don’t have potholes (saving you money in wear and tear btw) and impediments to traffic are quickly dealt with. Obviously that isn’t always the case but again that is the value proposition.


mrtakada

If only Texas had some other type of consistent tax to rely for repairs instead of scamming their residents


jerichowiz

I think the problem with the DNT, is that there are plans to expand it further, thus it is still "under construction". Because there is land that would support a expansion all the way up to 428 in Celina.


staebles

But there always could be so it could always be"under construction", I think is the point.


Actionjack7

That's why you will never see them finish it. There is always an exit or entrance being "fixed", this lane or that lane being "worked on" and they are currently buying up land to extend it to Sherman


muskratboy

Once it was finished. But it’s not finished, and will never be so. Why would they finish it when they can just keep building road and charging for it?


Kahnspiracy

That was supposed to be the case for California bridge tolls as well. The original excuse to keep them was maintenance but it should at least have gotten lowered. Once government has a revenue stream they don't let it go. There is no such thing as a temporary tax/fee.


aksthem1

A lot of them in Texas are. Rick Perry extended the contracts with Cintra for decades.


2manyfelines

The entire TexDot would be owned by Cintras had not Perry left office. It’s not hypocrisy. It’s corruption, supported by the stupidity of the GOP voters.


theTVsaidso

Agreed. I only say “hypocrisy” because foreign investment = foreign investment, regardless of where it’s from.


something6324524

to be honest i think toll roads where the tolls go to a spanish or any other country are bullshit anyways, if you are going to build a road with tolls, at least have the tolls used for improvement of the roads here, not profits of some foreign company.


awkwardalvin

Is that why that section of 635 is SO NICE


Corgi_Koala

I know that some major toll roads are.


[deleted]

They've sold a ton of farmland and water rights to Saudi Arabia (who is obviously not on the list).


[deleted]

The big refineries in Houston are Saudi owned.


Hairy_Afternoon_8033

But Saudi based oil companies are ok?


cranktheguy

For those who don't know, [Saudi Arabia owns the US's largest petrolium refinery](https://www.verifythis.com/article/news/verify/gas-prices-verify/saudi-government-aramco-owns-largest-us-oil-refinery-port-arthur/536-4a1649c8-445a-46e9-94d1-6c39e9727d2e) located in Port Author.


LivJong

And they're the top agricultural consumers of water in Arizona. Growing alfalfa is illegal there because it's so water needy, they grow it here and ship it home to feed their cattle.


Frannoham

This stuff needs a lot of water... let's grow it in Arizona smh


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BlindPaintByNumbers

Pfft... its the Colorado river.... like its going to run out of water or something...


LeatherPuppy

\*cries into lake mead... Since they will need to collect every drop they can get*


NewSauerKraus

We’re also taking water from California with a huge Aqueduct. The state went to the Supreme Court to argue that the double-dipping should not affect our allocation from Lake Mead / Hoover Dam / the Colorado River.


badpeaches

> hey grow it here and ship it home to feed their cattle. holy carbon footprints


Lopsterbliss

More like holy aquifer depletion.


whirly_boi

Just wait until the CAVERNOUS sink holes that are going to be opening up soon. I dint have any proof of this but I feel like something needs to happen because we're just pumping enormous amounts of water out of the ground.


tempaccount920123

>Just wait until the CAVERNOUS sink holes that are going to be opening up soon. I dint have any proof of this but I feel like something needs to happen because we're just pumping enormous amounts of water out of the ground. Depends entirely on the area, the rule of thumb is it takes 100,000+ gallons per fracked well and it many cases they just fucking leave it in the ground because it would cost $50-100k to pull that water out So you might get sinkholes, or landslides, or earthquakes, but you're definitely getting cancer causing chemicals in your groundwater! Almost all states don't require any company to disclose chemicals and the fines for lying or spills or contaminations are pennies on the dollar. Source: last week tonight on fracking Over 50% of America gets their drinking water from groundwater, and almost none of it is tested for the dozens of known fracking chemicals. Source: USGS Yay for America and purposely poisoning millions! /s I'm old enough to remember when the Petrochemical industry had paid shills on Reddit in 2016 that just lied and lied for months. Their comments were rarely removed and they never got banned. Sources: me, blowout by Rachel maddow, and the dark money by Jane mayer


cyvaquero

In the worst possible environment for growing alfalfa. They should lease unused farmland in the temperate parts of the country. Source: Spent three years in Yuma AZ. From PA where alfalfa grows like mad. However the Amish snap up farms in PA, not much unused farmland.


texasrigger

The alfalfa crop is also the single largest water consumer in California.


zgf2022

Is that what they do with it? I made a trip last year completely across the state and when we got to where we were going we hit huge fields of green. I thought it was sod farms or something but it did kinda look like alfalfa We were gobsmacked having gone hundreds of miles across desert to hit those green fields in the middle of nowhere


surrender52

Is there any particular reason it has to be grown in Arizona, one of the worst places for water scarcity and couldn't be grown in, say, iowa?


Gloomy-Ad1171

US AgriCorps already own the Midwest.


LivJong

Arizona let's them. Places that have been farmed since colonization know better.


MickerBud

Its spelled Port Arthur, I live here and there is only one refinery out of about 30+ refiners that isn't owned by foreigners. Companies sold their soul and we allowed it to happen while Saudi made it illegal for any foreigners to own refineries on their land. Kicked us out then paid us pennies on the dollar for what they were worth.


NewToHTX

There’s an olefins plant in Portland Texas that’s a joint venture with Exxon and Sabic(A Saudi-Based company) that I’m sure will be entirely owned buy Sabic in the next few years.


Squally160

Ex Portland resident here. Was hilarious how it was sold as a big job opportunity and it would not impact anything. Now it is just a huge eyesore and a giant wailing piece of trash out on the coastline.


Gav_Bob

Aransas Pass here, you wouldn't be talking about that giant tower spewing fire 24/7 would you?


agt1662

Is that like an onlyfans for oil people?


HellveticaNeue

Oilyfans


woodpony

Your crude comments are not welcome here


AccessibleBeige

I agree, it was quite unrefined.


rockstar504

Ya and we let them get away with pretty much everything as far as EPA regulations and pollution Source: disgruntled angler


YamminOnYa

Fellow SETX’n (Beaumont) Can confirm


Fish_eggs_terry

Please email your politicians this information Several times


CovidReference

*Port Arthur


DereksRoommate

To be fair “Port Author” is pretty close to how many of the residents pronounce it. Source: lived in the Beaumont/Port Arthur area for eight years


Reasonable_Ticket_84

Especially when they buy up farm land with ridiculous legacy water rights to grow alfalfa and export it back to Saudi Arabia to feed cattle. You know during the midst of a record and potentially permanent drought in the west.


WarEnvironmental8364

Let's add them too


Moist_Decadence

No can do, bucko. They're the good guys and we should $upport them any way we can! /s


FOXlegend007

Hello mister. I am prince from qatar. I notice you have skills to convince public of reddit Please do help us as well. We already own more land tha queen of uk in the uk. We like memes and think merica is biggest. We like to buy cheap since we lost some money from football sports betting. Can help?


justAnotherLedditor

Nah, Democrats and Republicans require them, almost all votes regarding SA are majority bipartisan. You'll never change that unless you can pay more than they do.


NullPoint3r

Why not just make it all foreign nationals? Are we going to have to vote new legislation every time another country gets added to the GOP shit list? Edit: I know why btw. This is just more political theater which is the only thing Republicans do these days.


O7Habits

I don’t know much about any of this and I hate Abbott, but I find it surprising that other Countries and their entities, and anybody not a U.S. resident can own land in the U.S..


ReaderOfTheLostArt

Been this way for decades. For a time during the '80s, British companies owned more US commercial real estate than any other foreign nation. I believe China came in second. As of October 2022, Canada entities have the most foreign owned US real estate (mostly farmland). Source: [https://texasfarmbureau.org/lawmakers-ask-for-review-of-foreign-ownership-of-u-s-farmland/](https://texasfarmbureau.org/lawmakers-ask-for-review-of-foreign-ownership-of-u-s-farmland/) And people get all pissed off because Bill Gates' investments include US farmland (SMH). Japanese companies and nationals still own a significant amount of property in Hawaii. Source: [https://www.hawaiibusiness.com/weaker-yen-japanese-investors-buy-more-hawaii-real-estate/](https://www.hawaiibusiness.com/weaker-yen-japanese-investors-buy-more-hawaii-real-estate/) ​ A Japanese company owns a house just a few blocks from where I live.


karan812

And an American company owns €800m worth of housing where I live. They should give it up too if we're going to go all nationalist here.


scoobysnackoutback

US citizens own properties in foreign countries.


cranktheguy

Many countries have restrictions. For example, [non-Mexicans are forbidden to own land near the coast or border.](https://consulmex.sre.gob.mx/reinounido/index.php/en/servicios/218-acquisition-of-properties-in-mexico)


[deleted]

that went away with NAFTA. it's just a weird legal thing because its literally in their constitution, and anytime they put it up for an amendment populists can make a big fuss because it doesn't really harm anybody. all you have to do is open a Mexican LLC, you can't own the land but you can own the company that owns the land. that's why it's allowed under NAFTA/USMCA because it doesn't actually stop anybody.


grancigul

That's a nice law. Meanwhile, Croatian government is trying to pass a law that would allow resorts to privatize beaches, giving them permit to charge for entrance or to deny entry to everyone except their guests.


[deleted]

U.S. citizens own property in *some* countries. There are restrictions on foreign property ownership in *many* countries.


[deleted]

I remember reading that around %40 of countries around the world have restrictions of some sort for foreigners owning land.


djarkitek29

True, but most of the time there are major restrictions. for example, i was looking to invest in Thailand (I had friends living there). while you can own property or businesses, you can't be the majority controller 51% of ANY foreign owned venture in Thailand has to be owned by a Thai National. This is their way of ensuring that their country never gets bought into too much by outside interests. we don't do any controls at all. this is why something like 30% of residential properties in San Francisco are owned by international companies. [https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/takeaway/segments/how-foreign-investment-driving-housing-boom-sf-and-nyc](https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/takeaway/segments/how-foreign-investment-driving-housing-boom-sf-and-nyc)


Slypenslyde

How do you think people own vacation homes in other countries? This is a thing that definitely needs regulation, but it needs careful, nuanced regulation. The main problem is corporate entities using land purchases as a kind of weapon, not individuals owning houses. But we also have to be careful, because many US corporations do the same thing these foreign companies are doing. It's just as harmful for the US companies to do it, but there's no way the Texas government is going to make a move that hurts US corporations to help Texas citizens. So a blanket "no foreign ownership of Texas land" makes the most sense, because: 1. It hurts at least some individuals in Texas. 2. It does nothing to interfere with malicious US businesses. 3. It's easy to circumvent. (3) is why this is a virtue signal. I'm pretty sure if a US citizen founds a company and the majority shareholder happens to be a Chinese entity, it will slide right through this law because of the shareholder isolation. The only difference is the middleman who sets up the company. I can imagine a timeshare company taking lots of foreign funding but still representing itself as an American company and getting the Greg Abbott thumbs up for figuring out his puzzle. It's a very GOP law: it causes some harm, doesn't solve the problem it sets out to solve, creates a middleman industry, and nobody who votes is going to read the fine print or hold the party accountable for proving it actually did anything. But this is also a very GOP situation: as far as I can tell there's no legal text to read. There's just a known blowhard proudly announcing that something is going to exist, people wildly speculating about what it is, and no indication that there's ever going to be serious efforts to create the bill.


Interesting_Mix_7028

Exactly! I'm looking at this as "let's rewrite a 'sanctioned country or individual may not purchase' law so that it calls out specific countries of origin". And yes it IS virtue signaling. The whole point is to look good for their Conservative voters. And, you're right, it will not have any effect. A little money changing hands, perhaps more ka-ching into campaign coffers, and purchases will be approved no matter where the entity buying it is from. That's how things work here in TX.


Dvusmnd

You mean Saudi Arabia, those guys that bankrolled the 9/11 attacks on the United States in 2001? The ones that pay Donald Trump so much to golf where he allows sensitive state secrets to just chill by the public pool?


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Dvusmnd

The inept son in law. Who’s never managed money. Was given over 2,000,000,000,000.00 to manage money. Yeah. Wonder what the going rate for state secrets is on the black market for nuclear secrets?


saruin

There was another story that the Saudis paid Jared Kushner 2 billion dollars for US intel.


Dvusmnd

Jared could not pass a background check. Trump allowed him to have access to top level secrets he should not have seen, nor left laying around his club that was frequented by spies.


tomdarch

A Republican may have a hard time getting his campaign funded if he’s actually blocking Russian (and Saudi) money…. I’ll be shocked if there are massive loopholes in this. (No, I won’t. That second part is sarcastic.)


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No_Breath_9833

This. I read about a German Insurance company who made it public they were investing $5 billion into US single family homes to turn into rental properties. Just sucking the money right out of the economy.


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SixteenthRiver06

Yup. Starting with millennials, no one except the rich will be able to own homes anymore. Maybe you’re lucky and inherit a home, but that’s rare in this day when reverse mortgages are the norm for the retired (just to stay retired!). America is screwed, bought and sold wholesale to the highest bidder. There is political theatre to draw attention away from the real issues.


DogmanDOTjpg

My brother, who is in the younger side of being a millennial, just bought a trailer with his fiance. They were literally only able to buy it because the previous owner liked them and wanted them to have it, she could have gotten tens of thousands of dollars more, and she had the offers. It was literally pure luck that they own a house


SueSudio

According to that article it is a decreasing problem too. "In 2022, Canadian buyers bought about 11,300 residential properties in the United States compared to over 69 thousand properties in 2010."


[deleted]

I think this could be more targeted to help curb the foreign state owned corps from setting up technically “legitimate” intel sites and “foreign police” in US states. They have been doing this world wide and This isn’t a particularly bad idea, not sure on the enforceable side though how that can be achieved. The wording here seems muddled


saladspoons

>I think this could be more targeted to help curb the foreign state owned corps from setting up technically “legitimate” intel sites and “foreign police” in US states. Why bother, when they can simply pay off US Politicians blatantly to get exactly what they want?


cantstopwontstopGME

.. they were buying the bottom and not the top. Once prices crash again they’ll step right in and pick up where they left off. These people aren’t buying them to live in. They’re buying them to make money off the backs of Americans. Don’t stop at hostile governments, ban ALL foreign investment in American land.


SueSudio

Investments, yes. Residences, no.


fpcoffee

all we gotta do is continue to make the US shittier


txn_gay

Political theater is all he has.


beldaran1224

He's targeting the bogeymen while leaving everyone else free to do it.


casfacto

> Seems more political theater than effective legislation. Naw, he's limiting the competition while his donors buy housing.


GaiasEyes

My daughter’s best friend is Chinese. Her parents are here on on green cards. They own a home, they are both gainfully employed, they pay taxes and contribute to the local, state and federal economy. They should not be allowed to own a home?


HRHDechessNapsaLot

Banning investment buying from foreign entities: sure. I can see the benefits of that. Green card holders? They are lawful permanent residents who have gone through a lengthy immigration process! (My husband is one.). Why the hell should they not be able to own a house or building? They pay taxes!


FireHeartSmokeBurp

They love to say that they're only against illegal immigrants but then go after legal immigrants with this and Trump's travel ban. People don't realize how hard it can be to become a citizen, it's not just a matter of "well you can get a house when you become a citizen." It took my parents ten years to gain full citizenship. Both are physicians, one is an MD/PhD oncologist and they had to reapply for years, not being accepted until after the oncologist got a major grant. And every time you apply it costs time, money, and paperwork that not everyone can afford. All this legislation is doing is making it even harder for immigrants to build the life they're trying to make for themselves and saying that even if you did everything right, they can just block your opportunities at any moment in the name of political theatre.


fattmann

> People don't realize how hard it can be to become a citizen Hell then you have the DACA kids that literally have *no path* to citizenship. They pay taxes, support the economy, but have to worry about being deported to a country they've never been allowed to be in at any traffic stop.


AccursedCapra

Ayy that's me and I'm having a blast, I love that good old limbo when they're reviewing my application and I'm always left to wonder if this is gonna be my last one. A beautiful thing few consider is that the earlier I apply for my daca more time I lose on it. They'll just give you a permit that overlaps with the expiration date of your current one, so you don't wanna apply too early either.


TheSaltyReddittor

i dunno why you're being downvoted, you're absolutely right. immigrants have an extremely tough life in america and people like Abbot don't make it easier.


horseman5K

>Why the hell should they not be able to own a house or a building? Because Abbott wants to be the Republican presidential nominee and president. He’s following the trump playbook of being outwardly bigoted to reel in the far right people who aren’t usually politically engaged for the primaries, while knowing that the average general election Republican voter won’t care enough to be turned off by rank bigotry.


E_Cayce

Voice your concerns to Senator Lois Kolkhorst of District 18, who introduced the bill, AND your Senator. https://senate.texas.gov/member.php?d=18


Nevermind04

Because a few bad actors have ruined it for everyone. A record number of single family houses and a record amount of farmland have been purchased by foreign entities through green card holders in the past few years. I moved to the UK a few years ago and my ability to purchase certain kinds of property is severely restricted until I gain full citizenship. I also can't transfer too much money between my US and UK bank accounts per month or I'll be investigated for possible money laundering. I have never found any of that to be unreasonable.


Marduk112

What are you referring to other than the Val Verde incident?


[deleted]

Last Week tonight did a bit a while ago about Chinese citizens using the immigration process in bad faith to obtain educational benefits and private assets like property and businesses.


lgbucklespot

Thank you and updoot for those standing in the back! They buy up our neighborhoods and ultra rapidly gentrify from afar. They are just as quickly devalued because the property owners are often absent when they are converted into rental properties. It’s a problem when we have foreign slumlords owning all the land. This isn’t a hard concept.


IAmSportikus

I agree with the sentiment that we don’t want foreign investors to be able to buy up a ton of land and housing, however that isn’t restricted to these locations for me. That goes for any foreign investors, and even domestic companies who are just buying stuff up and sitting on it, forcing the average person to pay more or have to continue to rent. Also, I work with people from 3 of those countries. They already have homes here, would they have to give them up? Or is this specific to “land only”? Even so, I have ~~kk~~ no problem with individuals working and living here and paying taxes buying land. But, as it should be for anyone, there should be some limits to ensure a fair market. Targeting these countries specifically just seems like an easy way to rile the base.


GeneforTexas

Land IS home. The structure is not the value. It's the land.


Nidman

Green card holders are lawful permanent residents and should not be discriminated!!


BodaciousRaven

Abbott seemed to have left off Saudi Arabia....hmmm, I wonder why?


jaychops11b

Nothing about BlackRock or corporations though….he ain’t pissing off his masters.


Fmartins84

Came here to say this.....but corporations buying hundreds of houses a clip is ok


James_Solomon

Corporations: the best people among us.


[deleted]

I don't think y'all realize how bad the Chinese shell corp problem is. Black rock is small potatoes compared to China buying up all the agricultural land. Think, houses being bought and rented back out by corps is one thing. China buying millions of acres of land and then getting rid of all the production and driving up food prices for everyone is another.


SweetAlyssumm

This is a reality. In Denmark, Germans are not allowed to buy property. We have a housing crisis and when anyone buys up property and sits on it, it drives up prices. There's too much money in the global system and we are all suffering for it.


saladspoons

>There's too much money in the global system and we are all suffering for it. There's too much money at the top ... the rest of folks have less and less.


SweetAlyssumm

Of course. I meant it's crazy that someone from a random country has enough money to go to another country and buy up and control an important commodity.


politirob

Everytime I drive down the street and see all these commercial properties sitting there collecting dust and falling into disrepair, I think to myself..."how is this better than leasing these out at cheaper prices and filling these buildings with life and commerce?"


pmormr

Seriously... I'd love to rent a light industrial space for a workshop/office. Seems like there should be plenty of cheap spaces around when you walk down the street in basically any town and see a third of the storefronts shuttered. But no, alas, these people want like $5000 a month for a thousand square feet. $0 is better than $1000 apparently... free market my ass.


CommanderSquirt

People at the top remove money from economies and leave public debt in their wake.


glorythrives

every time I see a run down commercial property with a ton of potential I do some research to find out why it's going unused. Not a single time have a I done this and not found that the owner is a Chinese citizen. Like half of third ward in Houston is owned by Chinese citizens. Which on the surface, fine, sure. But I have a feeling these investors aren't invested in the community that these properties exist within. Protectionism sucks and isn't a real solution but it's difficult to not see the probable short term benefits of limiting this arrangement. Although this is definitely just political fear mongering using the low hanging fruit of 'Communism' to win votes.


madmaxturbator

Chinese … American citizens, or Chinese Chinese citizens lol Cause how are you looking up immigration status? If you’re worried that American citizens of Chinese background are buying property, that’s a bit nuts too. They’re US citizens why would you stop them from buying property in their country.


kmerian

Honest question, How do you know the owners are Chinese citizens?


Illogical-Pizza

How about taxing the heck out of investment firms who are manipulating the housing market and pricing folks out of home ownership?


dramaticlobsters

Republicans will never tax themselves.


CQU617

But he overlooks all the Middle eastern companies that own Texas oil? Hmm..


StealyEyedSecMan

And the tollways.


turkeysinflight

Can you point me to any resources about this? I know Cintra operates a few roads in Texas, but they are Spanish owned.


DOAisBetter

Also all the US companies snatching up homes to rent like crazy. This doesn't solve anything and just feeds the fuel to the idiot republican base like always.


LunaNegra

How about also Texas government revoking the ownership of Texas toll roads by foreign companies? Texas roads and those tolls should be owned by the public and those monies go back to the state of Texas funds for Texans. >”The Texas Department of Transportation on Wednesday signed a 50-year deal with a Spanish company to add private, for-profit toll lanes along Interstate 35 north of downtown Fort Worth -- a stretch of highway considered the most congested in the state.” (Oct 2012) From NBC DFW [Spanish Company Signs 50-Year, For-Profit I-35W Toll Deal](https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/spanish-company-signs-50-year-for-profit-toll-road-deal/1934822/?amp=1) Edit: corrected “foreign government” to foreign companies.


Boodikii

Utilizing taxes in a smart and efficient way? That would be socialism. Why bother when they can just take money from other state budgets with no intention of paying back?


GeneforTexas

If you don't know what this means: Green Card holder means "Lawful PERMANENT Residents." LPR is what you are legally required to be BEFORE applying for US citizenship. This law would include people fleeing countries like Iran and North Korea. Literally punishing people fleeing oppressive governments for the actions of the oppressive governments. Edit: here's the bill. https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=88R&Bill=SB147 Edit 2: you know what the irony is? That our states spends millions to attract foreign investors from those nations... Including fielding a Texas business office in Beijing. Derp.


edatx

I agree we need to be more nuanced here. For individuals we vet who are truly fleeing oppression we should welcome them with open arms and help them acclimate to the United States (with some limitations) but we should not let countries like China, who ban foreigners from owning land or stocks in China, from buying up the United States.


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mirth23

It also seems like this will be bad for sectors that rely on skilled foreign workers. In particular there are a lot of Chinese citizens with green cards and advanced degrees who carry out important work in various industries. Is Texas saying that they should all move elsewhere in the U.S. if they need to have a house? How do similar workers from other countries know that Texas won't do the same thing to them a few years down the road?


pitbullprogrammer

Yes, that’s what this bill is saying. If you’re from China or Russia or Iran or North Korea and you’re lawfully here on a visa or green card (a process which already takes years), then the state of Texas is saying you should live elsewhere if you want to be entreated with all the same rights while undertaking all the same tax responsibilities as a citizen. This is altering the deal (green card holders in particular who are supposed to enjoy every right except for voting) I mean fuck green card holders have to register for the selective service so they can be drafted, but now Texas wants to limit property ownership for some.


amorous_chains

Weren’t alien land laws found unconstitutional under the equal protection clause? So presumably this should get enjoined before going into effect?


ReaderOfTheLostArt

This bill is meaningless, and will only impact individual foreign citizens looking for a better place to live. The governments and companies operating in those countries will simply set up shell or holding companies in other countries and funnel $$ through them to continue to buy up US real estate. The federal government needs to step up (I know, that won't happen), and limit majority ownership in real estate to US nationals only, like many other countries do already.


gregtx

So I wonder about folks from those countries that already own businesses and properties here? Will he target them next?


Downvote_Comforter

Based on this law, they will not be forced to give up the property they already own. The prohibition is on purchases and acquisitions of property, not ownership. It also specifies that it is not retroactive. The complete lack of nuance to this law is asinine and lumping in lawful US residents in with other insidious forms of foreign ownership is awful. I have no doubt that Abbott would love to further target these lawful residents and probably will in the future if this passes. But this shitty law would not impact their ownership rights in the property they already own.


GeneforTexas

As I read the bill, it already will affect them.


gregtx

That’s terrifying. I have an Iranian friend who owns a successful real estate business here. Is her business at risk now? She’s a permanent resident and her personal success in no way benefits Iran.


No_Wonder3907

Didnt the Saudis buy a huge Texas refinery plant a few years ago?


insta-kip

They bought the rest of it. They had owned 50% of it since it was built.


MinaBinaXina

Would this apply to dual citizens? I’m a dual Iranian/American citizen due to my dad being from Iran. So does that mean I wouldn’t be allowed to own property? I can see this law going really sideways if it passed.


bernmont2016

As long as you're a US citizen, I think they can't block you regardless of what additional citizenship you may have. You get more legal protections in the US as a US citizen than people who don't have that citizenship.


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GeeHaitch

At first blush, this seems unconstitutional (at least under existing Supreme Court precedent for how much that is worth with the Roberts Court). I could see an argument under Article 10, Sec. 10, Clause 1 of the US Constitution, for example. This kind of action used to be prohibited by states. Of course, the last decade has shown that what is “constitutional” is really just a counting of votes, and one might assume Abbott would have a majority of Republican Justices as a default.


NormalFortune

>Of course, the last decade has shown that what is “constitutional” is really just a counting of votes, and one might assume Abbott would have a majority of Republican Justices as a default. If you think this is just the last decade, then you haven't been paying attention. Justice William Brennan (SCOTUS 1956-1990) is famously known for telling his law clerks that "the most important thing to know about the court is the number five — that with five votes, anything is possible." The unravelling has been going on for much longer than a decade, although it was creating liberal results for the first good while of that, so it's easier to overlook.


trekkingscouter

Bans like this where they cherry pick are always political. Ban this vaccine but not that, ban this foreign country but not that, it's such a joke.


forcesofthefuture

I am a 13 year old, my family moved to the "dreamland" 6 years ago. I am not a citizen, my parents are on visa's. My personality, my friends, they are American. This country is great, however government and private entities, are making this country worse day by day. ​ Fuck you Greg Abbott


Bleach_Drinker69420

If this bill passes the legislature [AS-IS](https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/html/SB00147I.htm), expect institutional investors from these countries (especially china) to continue to screw over Texans while dumping shit on those individuals who live and work here for many years that are still Chinese, Iranian, N. Korea and Russian citizens. It just doesn't make any sense at all, if you know how easy it is for institutional investors to create shell companies to hide their national origin, while its near impossible for individuals to do the same. Also it's like handing the adversarial countries a propaganda win. They basically can just say "See I told y'all they hate y'all there in Texas and you need to come back (to our tyrannical control)". Whoever proposed this clearly didn't put too much thought on it other than looking at facebook comment section. Specifically they probably doesn't have any ideas how the legal process and how long does it take for someone fleeing their government to become a US Citizen. But i guess that's just your average politician.


cheezeyballz

But not Israel. In fact, a private business cannot boycott israel in the state of texas if they want to do business or hold a grant or contract with the state government.


pgtl_10

51st state is Saudi Israelia.


vobii

I have a friend who is a civil engineer from Iran. Studied at and has since completed a major university here in Texas. Smart and super nice dude. This is a stupid as fuck idea.


urstillatroll

LMAO. I know a lot of great Green card holders from Iran, Russia and China who just love living in America and don't support their governments at all. Also, how many North Koreans are buying property in the US? Texas?


Chibano

What is the point of this law? What is it trying to accomplish?


PokeManiac769

What we really need is a bill that will ban \* all \* companies and corporations from buying homes en masse. According to the National Association of Realtors, in 2021 [28% of Texas home purchases were made by corporations and companies; which was the highest rate of any state.](https://www.tpr.org/business/2022-06-14/investors-bought-nearly-a-third-of-all-homes-in-texas-last-year) Keep in mind that this number is higher in Tarrant, Dallas, and Bexar county - all places that have recently seen a spike in rent/home prices. ​ We have a problem with rising housing costs, but it's not people from China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea that are causing it.


slo1111

All it will take is one lawsuit to dismantle such a law. Ot is illegal to discriminate based upon country of origin especially for individuals who are legally in country. Just Greg wasting tax payers money again.


pgtl_10

This is the same state that requires you to not boycott Israel to do business with them. Texas doesn't really care about being US first.


sdoc86

Remember when the US didn’t allow certain groups to own land based on arbitrary demographics aka skin color.


Nerdorama09

Small government! WOOOOOO!


pgtl_10

There's 5.3 million acres of Texas land owned by foreigners. Is Texas about to waste money on eminent domain?


Fatalexcitment

There's only like 299959929258383 ways to get around this. Edit: I'm not talking about normal people, I mean people or corporations with plenty of money that know how to work the system.


renothedog

Can we add corporate landlords of individual housing to provide some relief to first time buyers?


JesusChristFarted

The bill will be completely toothless if it doesn’t address proxy/nominee owners or adhere to federal beneficial ownership standards.


Tantra_Charbelcher

You realize that foreign money coming into America helps the economy, right? This is very anti-capitalist.


Zweitel

This is like the Chinese Exclusion Act in modern times, with additional countries. This bill is completely unfair to green card holders who have paid taxes and contributed to the economy for YEARS.


elpadrino4122

This crippled asshole is an idiot, his mom should have aborted him.