Dan Patrick Made Buying a House a Crime (If You're the Wrong Kind of Buyer)

A real-estate deal is now a criminal matter

Senate Bill 17, passed by the Patrick-led Texas Senate in the 89th Legislature, was signed and took effect September 1, 2025. The state's own bill page lays it out.

The verbatim caption (from Texas Legislature Online) describes SB 17 as:

"Relating to the purchase or acquisition of an interest in real property by certain aliens or foreign entities; creating a criminal offense; providing a civil penalty."

Sit with the phrase "creating a criminal offense." Texas just attached criminal liability to the act of buying property. Whatever you think of the politics, that is the government inserting itself into the most basic free-market transaction there is — a sale between a willing buyer and a willing seller.

Free market for me, not for thee

Dan Patrick built a brand on "get government out of the way" and "let the market work." Then his Senate produced a law that criminalizes certain land purchases and adds a civil penalty on top. You cannot run as the free-enterprise champion and also write criminal penalties into the deed office.

Texas landowners should be nervous about the precedent

Once the state decides it can criminalize a property transaction based on who the buyer is, it has established that your right to buy and sell land is conditional on the Lt. Governor's approval list. Today it's framed one way. Precedent doesn't stay in its lane — and Texans who actually value property rights should notice who built this machinery. (Patrick presides over the Senate; see the Texas Tribune directory.)

There's a better option on the ballot

If you want a Texas where property rights and the free market mean what they say — not slogans bolted onto big-government bills — look at Vikki Goodwin in Texas House District 47.

Ban Dan. Vote Goodwin. Vote them out.