Texas Looks Set to Ban the NAR Speech Code

A glimmer of hope for free speech and the right of conscience for REALTORS

This will be a public post, because of its importance to all REALTORS.

Most of you know that I have been railing against the unjust and utterly idiotic NAR Speech Code ever since it was proposed. I have interviewed three REALTORS who were persecuted for their beliefs and for their speech under SoP 10-5: Brandon Huber, Wilson Fauber, and Chad DeVries. I have called on NAR to repeal the speech code for self-preservation purposes, if not moral reasons.

Just go do a search on this site for “NAR Speech Code” and you’ll see.

I knew that those individuals and others have been fighting for their freedom of speech, for their religious beliefs, and for their right of conscience. And at last, there is a glimmer of hope.

A bill has been introduced in Texas that seeks to eliminate not just NAR’s Speech Code, but any trade association’s infringement on the rights of free speech and religious liberty and conscience. SB 2713 is a short bill, which will make the kind of discrimination NAR and its state and local Associations engage in illegal in Texas.

I listened to hours of committee hearings so you don’t have to. Then again, I wanted to understand what the mood of the legislators was, and whether this bill was likely to pass.

From what I saw during that committee hearing, this bill will sail through Committee. The Texas Senate is 20 Republicans and 11 Democrats; it will pass there. The Texas House is 88 Republicans and 62 Democrats; it will pass there. There is little likelihood that Greg Abbot will not sign it into law.

What’s more, the Texas Association of REALTORS got on the record saying that they would not oppose it.

The deal is done, y’all. NAR’s Speech Code will die a well-deserved death, and not soon enough.

The Bill & the Committee Hearing

The entire bill is very short, so I will duplicate it in its entirety here:

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT relating to preventing discrimination in membership in a professional or trade association or organization.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Subtitle C, Title 5, Business & Commerce Code, is amended by adding Chapter 121 to read as follows:

CHAPTER 121. DISCRIMINATION BY PROFESSIONAL OR TRADE ASSOCIATION OR ORGANIZATION PROHIBITED

Sec. 121.001. DENIAL OF MEMBERSHIP OR SERVICES. A professional or trade association or organization may not deny a person access to or membership or participation in the association or organization because of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, or national origin or because of the person's exercise of the person's freedom of speech or assembly, notwithstanding any provision of the association's or organization's bylaws.

Sec. 121.002. PRIVATE CAUSE OF ACTION. (a) A person aggrieved by a violation of Section 121.001 may bring an action against the professional or trade association or organization for injunctive relief or damages.

(b) The court may award court costs and reasonable attorney's fees to the prevailing party in an action brought under this section.

SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.

Prohibiting discrimination on the basis of freedom of speech by a professional or trade association is solid enough, but it is creating that private cause of action for injunctive relief or damages is what makes this effective. Now, a Texas REALTOR who is denied access to the MLS, disciplined by a REALTOR association for an opinion or for “hate speech” can sue for damages.

But the bill itself is not where the interesting action is. It is very short, after all.

The really interesting stuff came during the Committee hearing. Watch the video below.

I did cut out only the parts that had to do with SB 2713 and the NAR Speech Code, but that’s still very long. Nonetheless, if you care about this issue, if you care about freedom of speech, about religious liberty, about freedom of conscience, and about REALTOR Associations… you will want to check this out. Feel free to make small clips yourself.

There is no shortage of pure gold moments during the hearing, but I will note a few things at a high level.

First, there was not a single Senator or witness who opposed this bill. Texas does have Democrat senators, and presumably a few of them are on this Committee. But not one legislator opposed this bill, at least during the hearing.

Second, while most of the senators clearly do not understand how the industry works, how Associations work, how the MLS works, they do understand freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and freedom of religion. All of the senators who spoke were very much in support of SB 2713.

Third, the witnesses who testified about being persecuted by the NAR Speech Code were compelling, spoke with sincerity, and impressed the legislators. I think Chad DeVries and Wilson Fauber in particular did a great job, as did Jamie Haynes. Ms. Haynes in fact ran for office after her experience, though she lost in the primary.

Fourth, the representatives of Texas Association of REALTORS were on the defensive the entire time, were unprepared, and sounded entirely too evasive. They ended up stating that they were not opposed to SB 2713 and had no concerns about it. I hope that came from a sincere place of hating the rule that NAR put on them, since well… it is the TEXAS Association of REALTORS, not the California or New York Association of REALTORS after all.

I believe that this bill will pass during this legislative session, which ends June 2, 2025. The legislation will then take effect September 1, 2025.

However, long before that, it seems entirely possible that Ken Paxton, the Attorney General of Texas who is no friend of the woke mob, may take action as well, since one of the senators directly called on him to look into what NAR, Texas Association of REALTORs, and some local Associations may have been doing to their own members who happen to espouse conservative and Christian beliefs outside of their jobs as real estate agents.

It seems entirely likely that the Texas Association of REALTORS, who were caught completely off-guard by this hearing, will be sending emergency signals to NAR and to their peers at other states. It would be the height of foolishness for NAR to fight this, given how one senator straight up said he has many friends in state legislatures all around the country and that he will be reaching out to them to take action in their respective states.

As one of the witnesses said during testimony, given the size and importance of Texas, if Texas acts here, then other (red) states are sure to follow.

Let’s not forget who is in the White House, and who is the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ.

The NAR Speech Code is dead.