Local Government Committee advances bill to void race-based covenants on state school property

The Committee on Local Government voted to pass Senate Bill 194 favorably and place the measure on the consent calendar, advancing a bill that would declare unenforceable racially discriminatory covenants on property owned by state educational institutions when those covenants were executed during a specified 10-year period.

The bill is the Senate companion to House Bill 2,282; the committee’s revisor summarized that the bills are “largely the same” and said the legislation would make unenforceable “covenants on property that is owned by a state educational institution that prohibit the use for other than single-family residence purposes and which contain discriminatory provisions to restrict ownership or tenancy based on race.” The revisor noted two amendments the Senate adopted: applying the bill’s 10-year date range to limit which covenants are voided, and moving the effective date to the…