I think it's because Chinese people specifically hold a lot of real estate investments globally. With foreign-owned AirBnB a problem in many major metros, it's a problem that does need to be addressed. I suspect the issue is that they wanted to address it but still allow, you know, wealthy white investors, so they made it about nationality rather than other factors.

So yes, the law is a good idea but needs to be applied globally rather than targeting a specific ethnicity.

It's a poorly written law that targets a single group. It's racist. That makes it stupid.

I would love if we prevented all foreign nationals from ownership of scarce local resources over a certain amount. There's no reason to target the Chinese but let Canadians do the same thing.

It's because it targets Chinese people in particular (and, by extension , anyone who "looks" Chinese). It says that Chinese people need to be here "lawfully" and "domiciled" in Florida in order to buy property over a certain amount. But who gets to decide the burden of sufficient proof?

For that matter, who gets to decide who is "Chinese" enough for this provision? Just recently Sen. Cotton refused to give up on the idea that a tech executive from Singapore was somehow a puppet of the Chinese Government. This act is really a way for Florida officials (who may not be as smart as Sen. Cotton, after all) to discriminate against anyone who looks remotely Chinese. Even people who were born here, have no heritage from China, and have never been to China will need to bring their passport to closing to prove they're not covered by this, if they look vaguely Asian. (Although I bet Saudis won't get interrogated, even if they are technically Asian and their government is just as repressive as China's.)

If you want to ban foreign investment in real estate in the US, do it for everyone. Don't ban certain groups and not others.

Why should they not? Do you check the citizenship for buyers of other products?