Bigger. Better. Bolder. Inman Connect is heading to San Diego. Join thousands of real estate pros, connect with the Inman Community, and gain insights from hundreds of leading minds shaping the industry. If you’re ready to grow your business and invest in yourself, this is where you need to be. Go BIG in San Diego!
A Texas bill regarding free speech by members of professional or trade organizations died in the House’s Trade, Workforce and Economic Development Committee Wednesday night when it failed to be considered for a second or third reading, Inman has learned exclusively.
Since Senate Bill 2713 was not recognized on the House floor before a midnight deadline, it is considered “sine die,” which means deliberations over the bill have concluded indefinitely and will not be considered further on any future date, a communications rep for Senator Mayes Middleton’s (R-Galveston) office told Inman.
TAKE THE INMAN INTEL SURVEY FOR MAY
The bill, which was put forward by by Sen. Middleton in March, proposed that trade organizations within the state be prohibited from denying anyone membership in their organization due to 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.”
SB 2713 also stated that someone who is aggrieved by a violation of the bill may bring action against the trade organization for damages, which might include court costs and attorney fees.
The bill had passed the Texas Senate by a vote of 22 to nine on May 8, 2025, after which point it was sent to the House for consideration. It never came to a vote in the House.
Although the bill did not target any one industry in its language, during a Senate committee hearing that took place on April 28, several current or former real estate professionals who are residents of Texas and other states testified in favor of the bill.
Four of those who testified — Brandon Huber, Chad DeVries, Wilson Fauber and Jamie Haynes — had received complaints in the past in relation to their expression of alleged hate or similar speech and its alleged violation of the Realtor Code of Ethics, and said their careers had been negatively impacted by those complaints.
Senator Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston)
Texas Realtors Director of Public Policy Julia Parenteau and Chief Operating Officer David Jones were also grilled during the Senate committee hearing on April 28 about the Realtor Code of Ethics Standard of Practice 10-5 and the National Association of Realtors’ role in establishing professional standards and practices for Texas Realtors.
When the bill was still under consideration in the House, Sen. Middleton said in a statement sent to Inman that it was crafted with the intent of “protecting Texans’ freedom of speech from political and religious persecution from trade organizations.”
“The First Amendment doesn’t end when you clock in. And yet, too many Texans today find themselves forced to choose between staying silent or risking expulsion from their industry and even losing their ability to make a living,” Sen. Middleton said. “SB 2713 fixes that. It draws a clear line: professional associations cannot blacklist, or gatekeep the tools of a profession based on race, religion, sex, disability, freedom of speech or freedom of assembly.
“At the heart of this issue is this question: Should a group that exists only because the state of Texas licenses its members be able to punish a member for expressing their First Amendment rights? Their religious beliefs? No one in Texas should have to choose between making a living through their trade organization and their First Amendment rights.”
Texas Realtors reaffirmed that it was neutral toward the bill, as its representatives had said during the Senate hearing. NAR declined to comment for this story.
“We understand the intent behind Senate Bill 2713 and remained neutral on the bill throughout the legislative process,” a representative for the association said in a statement emailed to Inman. “Texas Realtors enforces the Realtor Code of Ethics as written and approved by the National Association of Realtors’ volunteer leadership. We believe it is vital that professional and trade organizations retain the ability to establish and uphold a code of ethics and conduct for their members.
“The Realtor organization is rooted in a strong commitment to fair housing and professional standards — principles that guide our work in every community we serve. As an industry that exists to serve consumers, ethics and accountability are not just priorities — they are foundational.”
Bob McCranie | Texas Pride Realty Group
Bob McCranie of Texas Pride Realty Group in Plano, Texas, who is a vocal LGBTQ advocate known for advertising relocation services for individuals who want to “flee red states,” told Inman while the bill was still under consideration that he was concerned not just about how it could impact Texas Realtors, but also potential ripple effects in other states.
“You’re not fighting for freedom of religion; you’re fighting for hate,” McCranie said of the bill’s advocates. “What’s really going to happen is they’re going to come after Article 10 altogether, because then they’re going to say that the Fair Housing stuff is just too ‘woke.’
“And it’s not just going to impact Texas — it will impact all states that are enacting the laws that we’re seeing enacted,” McCranie continued. “It’ll ricochet around all the states that are Republican-controlled.”
NAR’s hate speech policy under Article 10 of the Code of Ethics stipulates that Realtors “must not use harassing speech, hate speech, epithets, or slurs based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity.”
In order to qualify as a violation of the code, an individual’s speech must first be determined to be “harassing, hate speech, epithets, or slurs,” and secondly, must be speech based on one of the protected designations mentioned. In updated guidelines released in November 2020, NAR explained that the standard of practice was intended to “not deny equal professional services or be parties to a plan to discriminate.”
Soomin Kim | eXp Realty
By contrast to McCranie’s opinion, Soomin Kim, a Realtor in Austin, Texas, with eXp Realty, told Inman, while the bill was still under consideration, that he wasn’t concerned because his business was largely impacted as a direct result of his own actions — not those of faceless governing bodies.
“In other words, how I conduct myself, my business, my treatment of others is quite public,” Kim told Inman in a text. “‘Hate speech’ in general likely doesn’t constitute for short- or long-term success, in my opinion, for sustained business. So I don’t know that NAR’s involvement or an adjustment to a current policy on speech is that concerning, to me, at least.
“I understand the purpose of such guidelines, but this one seems to be enriched in some social and political confrontations,” he continued. “I’m not too worried either way, the market of public response to conduct will take care of itself.”
Standard of Practice 10-5 has been a source of legal disputes for NAR in the past. In 2022, Realtor and pastor Brandon Huber (who testified in the Senate on April 28) sued NAR and his local association, the Missoula Organization of Realtors, for allegedly unlawfully terminating his membership after he stopped his church’s donations to the Missoula Food Bank because of their support of LGBTQ Pride Month, and for sharing anti-LGBTQ sentiments.
Huber’s lawsuit against NAR and MOR ultimately fell flat, and MOR’s Board of Ethics found him guilty of violating Article 10 of the Code of Ethics but said he could keep his membership if he paid a $5,000 fine and completed sensitivity training. Instead, Huber declined the offer and opted to end his real estate career.
The fizzling out of SB 2713 also comes as NAR is set to consider changes to its rules surrounding harassment and speech at the association’s Legislative Meetings, which will run from May 31 to June 5. In the meeting’s agenda, the Code of Ethics and its section on harassing speech are identified as areas of “potential risk” or legal liability. Any potential changes would seek to create “clarity” and “to reduce risk to state and local associations and their volunteer leadership,” the agenda says.
Update: This story was updated after publishing with a statement from Texas Realtors.
