Houston Chinese Alliance (HCA) stands against Texas 88th Legislature Senate Bill 147. Bill Title: Relating to the purchase of or acquisition of title to real property by certain aliens or foreign entities. ( Bill text https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/html/SB00147I.htm )

While the bill may have its original intention of protecting national security and combating illegal activities, it has negative consequences in multiple domains. One major concern is that the bill would discriminate against individuals based on their country of origin, which is unjust, unfair, and unconstitutional.

HCA is committed to safeguarding the rights and interests of all people, those of Chinese ethnicity in particular, in the greater Houston area, and to promoting their well-being and development in the United States. SB147, in its current form, limits the rights and opportunities of people of Chinese ethnicity based solely on their country of origin and has the potential of intensifying hostility toward all individuals of Chinese descent. As such, HCA objects to SB147, especially the following:

Sec. 5.0051. PURCHASE OF OR ACQUISITION OF TITLE TO REAL PROPERTY BY CERTAIN FOREIGN INDIVIDUALS OR ENTITIES PROHIBITED. Notwithstanding any other law, the following may not purchase or otherwise acquire title to real property in this state:

                 (4) an individual who is a citizen of China, Iran, North Korea, or Russia. 

In order to stop this proposed bill from becoming law, we strongly encourage voters of Texas to contact their senators and the Lieutenant Governor of Texas, Dan Patrick, to express objection to SB147. To find the Texas senators for certain districts, please visit https://wrm.capitol.texas.gov/home.

The Board of Houston Chinese Alliance

League of Women Voters of Houston helps voters make informed decisions when it comes to elections at national, state, and local levels. After contacting and asking candidates to respond to candidate questionnaire on important issues, LWV reproduces these responses exactly as they are submitted. This helps voters get direct access to the candidate responses on those issues. 

It is critical for Asian voters to exercise their rights to vote. 

 “THE FUTURE OF THIS REPUBLIC IS IN THE HANDS OF THE AMERICAN VOTER” 

– PRESIDENT DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER.

Why vote? 

• To decide and shape the quality of life for you and your children.
• To choose how your tax money are spent.
• To make a positive impact on your community.
• To set an example to your children on civic engagement. 

Your vote, your voice! 

For the complete English version of the Houston Voters Guide, click here.

For the complete Chinese version of the Houston Voters Guide, click here for simplified Chinese and here for traditional Chinese.

Note that you need to do the following to access the Chinese versions once you are at the links above: 

1. Go to: https://www.vote411.org/ 
2. Click “Find What’s on Your Ballot.” After entering your address, click “Chinese” in “Choose My language” section and then click “Go to My Races.” 
3. You can then select the various races and find out about the candidates responses by clicking on the candidate names. 

The Houston Chinese Alliance (HCA) successfully gave a lecture on the U.S. Constitution at the Jungman Neighborhood Library. Mr. David Cao, Senior Counsel, Office of Chief Counsel for IRS in Houston, and former President of HCA, focused on the Bill of Rights, with classic case law as the core, presented a very interesting lecture to the audience.

The Formation of the U.S. Constitution was a miracle

Since the United States was originally formed by 13 independent states, the early United States was like a “United Nations” of 13 members. In the eyes of the American people, the government is a necessary evil, so it must be confined to one framework, which is the Constitution of the United States. The purpose of the Constitution is to protect individual and limit the power of the government. The U.S. Constitution created a system of separation of three powers of the government. The parliament enacts the legislation; the court interprets the laws and the executive government executes the laws. Final interpretation of the Constitution resides with the U.S. Supreme Court.

The President of United States

The election of the President of the United States is conducted by a system of Electoral College. Registered voter cast ballots for members of the U.S. Electoral College, known as electors. These electors in turn cash direct votes, known as the electoral votes for President. The Electoral College and its procedures are established by the U.S. Constitution. The purpose of the Electoral College system is to balance the interest of the big states and the small states and to prevent a few big states with large voter base from jeopardizing the interest of the other states.

The U.S. Constitution Aims to protect Human Rights and Restrict Government

The jurisprudential basis of the spirit of affirmative action is from the fourteen amendment to the U.S. Constitution, while the specific boundaries of the law are established by case law. One of the classic case is the 1986 “Yihe v. Hopkins case”. Yi He, the owner of a Chinese laundromat, violated the San Francisco municipal ordinance, but because of the apparent discrimination in the administration of justice by the San Francisco municipal government, the Federal Supreme Court ruled that the San Francisco City Council order was unconstitutional, and ultimately handed the victory to Yi He. In particular, the protection provided for in the U.S. Constitution was “person” instead of “American Citizen”. If that were not the case, Yi He and the non-American citizen would not have been able to rely on the law to protect their interests.

Another classic case is that in 1957, President Eisenhower sent 1,000 U.S. Army paratroopers from the 101^st Airborne Division to assist 9 African American students to attend their school. The strong will of the federal government to defend the Constitution, reflects the protection of human rights in the Constitution, as well as the difference of power between the federal and the state government. These vivid precedents make the U.S. Constitution a true shield for the protection of human rights.

How to deal with law enforcement officials

The fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendments to the Constitution give people the right to freedom from illegal searches, illegal detention, and freedom from self-incrimination. These articles are especially important to Chinese in the United States. It is important to know your rights and know when to say “no” when dealing with the law enforcement officials. The wise Founding Fathers of the United States understand that government is a “necessary evil”. When they created this evil; they created the Constitution for people’s protection. The audience frequently asked questions during the lecture. The atmosphere was serious and enthusiastic. During the question-answer session, Mr. Cao explained the importance of due process in the case of O.J. Simpson. Through the lecture, the audience deeply realized that the wisdom and concern for human rights that had prevailed in the Constitution of the United States for more than 200 years were still shining as ever.

The following videos are produced and provided by MerryHouston.

Theresa Chang

Barbara Gardner

Natalia Oakes

Kathleen Vossler

James Horowitz

Jason Luong

The on-going early voting of 2018 midterm election was at the center of media focus. One week before the end of early voting, on Feb 24^th afternoon, Houston Chinese Alliance (HCA) invited the Republican candidate David Balat and Democrat candidate Sri Preston Kulkarni to meet voters in a friendly forum. This well-attended event has attracted much interest from Houston Chinese community.

In the forum, both candidates presented their fundamental vision for the country as well as their stances on critical issues for Chinese community. They then clarified and discussed the issues at the heart of the Chinese community. Both David Balat and Sri Preston Kulkarni talked about their background and why they were running for the position. They explained their opinions on critical issues such as educations, immigrations, global climate change, rebuilding after Harvey and gun control. Despite the wide range of topics, the focus was on:

1. About Affirmative Action (AA). The two candidates held drastically different opinion. While Sri believe that AA is necessary to protect some specific demographic groups, David believed that the necessity of AA has outdated and opposed AA for the sake of encouraging personal efforts.
2. About disaggregated race/ethnicity data, especially for Asian ethnics group: both candidates oppose the disaggregation data for Asian ethnics only.
3. About reverse discrimination, both candidates believe that such reverse discrimination of Asians should not happen.
4. About reconstruction plan after Harvey: since both candidates are Houston local, they both express their sympathy and care for people affect by this severe natural disaster, and urge the government to improve the infrastructure and provide more support.
5. About Health Insurances: David believes the federal government should not interfere this issue. Health care and health insurance has its local unique challenges and are most effectively handled at the local and regional level. David further told everyone that helping to push for more effective and efficient health care system is one of his main motivations to run for election. Elected or not, he will keep working on this issue.

Check out the video of this forum here

Check out the full content of Blum’s talk here