Aiexpress – Indiana lawmakers are introducing legislation to ban foreign adversaries from acquiring valuable farmland, following a devastating investigation that revealed Chinese investors possess over 385,000 acres of US land.
Proposed House Bill 1183 would prohibit any citizen or company related to a “foreign adversary” from owning or leasing agricultural land in the state, which the bill’s author claims poses a national security risk.
The law would also impose tight limits on how close a “prohibited person” might own property to a military facility.
“This might be the most important bill we have in terms of securing the entire state of Indiana,” said Republican state Sen. Jean Leising, who serves on the Senate’s Agriculture Committee, according to WTHR.
The state House of Representatives passed the bill that Rep. Kendell Culp introduced in January earlier this month with resounding Democratic and Republican support, and the Senate’s Agriculture Committee endorsed it on Monday from both sides of the aisle.
The Indiana legislation follows the US Commerce Department’s list of rivals, which includes Russia, North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, and China.
According to Culp, foreign countries own around 2.2% of Indiana’s territory.
According to data from the state Department of Agriculture, farms and forests account for more than 80% of Indiana’s 36,420 square miles.
A distressing study from the United States Department of Agriculture showed an even more terrible picture: foreign countries possess around 40 million acres of the United States’ 1.3 billion acres of agriculture.
China alone owns 384,235 acres of American land, with a single Chinese billionaire controlling more than half of it.
“Many national security experts, including myself, believe China represents the greatest threat to our national security in this generation,” national security expert Brian Kavenaugh told a Senate committee.
“They do their homework, and they understand what would be the greatest benefit to a community to give them the access they desire.”
The proposed legislation would bar “prohibited persons” or businesses from purchasing or leasing Indiana farmland, mineral, or water rights.
It would also prohibit such entities from acquiring land within 10 miles of an armory or military maintenance facility or within 50 miles of a military base, as added by the Senate committee.
To enforce the rules, which will go into effect on July 1, land purchasers must swear in an affidavit that they have no ties to any of the forbidden countries.
There is an exemption for international students attending Indiana universities that allows them to rent property while attending classes.
If passed, Indiana will join 24 other states, including Montana, Virginia, and Idaho, that have passed legislation prohibiting Chinese nationals from purchasing property.
