This is not the first time¹ Texas has considered a state “alien land law.” Just last year, State Senator Lois Kolkhost (R) introduced S.B. 147, which is often cited as one of the first examples of modern land laws, introduced in response to what certain lawmakers perceived to be threats to the U.S. electrical grid. Prior to that, Texas has previously passed three versions of alien land laws in 1891, 1892, and 1921, the last of which was only formally repealed by the Texas state legislature in 1965.

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This guide is for education stakeholders and policymakers as they consider introducing legislation to mandate Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) history in K-12 curricula. Due to each state’s varying political, social, and educational contexts, it is strongly recommended that stakeholders determine the existing infrastructure and opportunities for changing the curriculum prior to using legislation as a pathway for implementing AAPI history. 

The 2022 National Poll of Asian American Non-Voters and Voters⁴ interviewed 2,800 Asian American citizens about the mid-term elections.

The Advancing Justice - AAJC Messaging Guidance fact sheet provides key information for politicians, political candidates, journalists, and more on how to discuss national security concerns without China-bashing or vilifying Asian Americans.

(Updated 6/26/2025)

On October 9th, 2023, Texas State Senator Lois Kolkhorst (R) introduced S.B. 51 which seeks to completely ban Chinese, Iranian, North Korean, and Russian citizens from purchasing agricultural land in the state. This comes only months after Sen. Kolkhorst introduced a similar bill, S.B. 147, which also sought to discriminate against individuals from these 4 countries and bar them from purchasing agricultural property in the state of Texas.

In 1804, Ohio was the first state to pass legislation permitting non-United States citizens to own land, paving the way for other states to do the same.

Louisiana first passed its own version of an "alien land law" in 1921 which placed land ownership restrictions on those it deemed to be "ineligible to citizenship." This was modeled after California's version, which took effect in 1913⁵.

Florida was unfortunately the last state to repeal its “alien land law” which did not happen until 2018⁶. The language existed in its state Constitution, and it took decades for local Asian American activists to finally repeal it. Just 5 years later, S.B.⁷

This is not the first time¹ Texas has considered a state “alien land law.” In fact, Texas has previously passed three versions of an alien land law in 1891, 1892, and 1921. The last version was formally repealed by the Texas state legislature in 1965. We view any discriminatory land law on non-US individuals to be legally problematic and likely unconstitutional, especially if the law in question is as vague and broad as S.B. 147.