Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff
By Howard Fischer | Your Valley
PHOENIX — Republican lawmakers voted Wednesday to send a message to Chinese communists: Your money is not welcome here — at least not for buying land.
On a party-line vote, the Senate Commerce Committee approved legislation making it illegal for the Chinese Communist Party to own property in Arizona. That part of SB 1342 appeared to get no opposition.
But the proposal by Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff, seeks to extend the same prohibition to any individual who is a member of the Chinese Communist Party. And that drew questions about who, in fact, is a member of the party and whether such restrictions are appropriate against individuals based solely on that status.
Rogers provided the committee with no specifics about what is the problem here — or even if there is one. Nor did she know whether members of the CCP own land in Arizona.