In addition, property values across the nation vary widely. This is an area in which states' rights should prevail. I also oppose this legislation because it puts Texas farm families at risk. In an ironic twist, should small family farmers in Texas have to declare bankruptcy under the law now being debated, they might have to give up their home or the farm. Those seeking to overturn 132 years' worth of states' rights on this issue cite abuses by a very small number of wealthy people.
Good safeguards are to be enacted.
For example, the bankruptcy bill now being debated requires that debtors must live in a state for at least two years before their houses can be exempt from bankruptcy proceedings. Not many people plan their bankruptcies 24 months in advance. And judges now have enough power to ferret out and punish would-be cheaters. Banks and other lenders are sophisticated. They know better than to use a house as collateral in states that exempt homes from bankruptcy proceedings.