Protecting America’s Agricultural Land from Foreign Harm Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3357 To prohibit the purchase or lease of agricultural land in the United States by persons associated with certain foreign governments, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 16, 2023 Mr. STRONG (for himself, Ms. SPANBERGER, Mrs. CHAVEZ-DEREMER, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. LAWLER, Mr. ROGERS of Alabama, Mr. CARL, Mr. NUNN of Iowa, Ms. SALAZAR, Mr. GUEST, Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana, Mr. MOORE of Alabama, Mr. WILLIAMS of New York, Mr. MOOLENAAR, Mr. MOYLAN, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr. BURLISON, Mr. BABIN, Mr. WILLIAMS of Texas, Mr. ADERHOLT, Mr. LANGWORTHY, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. GIMENEZ, Mr. KEAN of New Jersey, and Mr. FITZGERALD) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agri- culture, and in addition to the Committees on Foreign Affairs, and Intel- ligence (Permanent Select), for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To prohibit the purchase or lease of agricultural land in the United States by persons associated with certain foreign governments, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:19 May 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3357.IH H3357 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3357 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting America’s 2 Agricultural Land from Foreign Harm Act of 2023’’. 3 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 4 In this Act: 5 (1) AGRICULTURAL LAND.— 6 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘agricultural 7 land’’ has the meaning given the term in sec- 8 tion 9 of the Agricultural Foreign Investment 9 Disclosure Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 3508). 10 (B) INCLUSION.—The term ‘‘agricultural 11 land’’ includes land described in section 9(1) of 12 the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure 13 Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 3508(1)) that is used for 14 ranching purposes. 15 (2) COVERED PERSON.— 16 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘covered per- 17 son’’ has the meaning given the term ‘‘person 18 owned by, controlled by, or subject to the juris- 19 diction or direction of a foreign adversary’’ in 20 section 7.2 of title 15, Code of Federal Regula- 21 tions (as in effect on the date of enactment of 22 this Act), except that each reference to ‘‘foreign 23 adversary’’ in that definition shall be deemed to 24 be a reference to the Government of— 25 (i) Iran; 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:19 May 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3357.IH H3357 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3357 IH (ii) North Korea; 1 (iii) the People’s Republic of China; or 2 (iv) the Russian Federation. 3 (B) EXCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘covered per- 4 son’’ does not include a United States citizen or 5 an alien lawfully admitted for permanent resi- 6 dence to the United States. 7 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 8 the Secretary of Agriculture. 9 (4) UNITED STATES.—The term ‘‘United 10 States’’ includes any State, territory, or possession 11 of the United States. 12 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON PURCHASE OR LEASE OF AGRI- 13 CULTURAL LAND IN THE UNITED STATES BY 14 PERSONS ASSOCIATED WITH CERTAIN FOR- 15 EIGN GOVERNMENTS. 16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi- 17 sion of law, the President shall take such actions as may 18 be necessary to prohibit the purchase or lease by covered 19 persons of— 20 (1) public agricultural land that is owned by the 21 United States and administered by the head of any 22 Federal department or agency, including the Sec- 23 retary, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Sec- 24 retary of Defense; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:19 May 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3357.IH H3357 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3357 IH (2) private agricultural land located in the 1 United States. 2 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.—The President may exercise 3 all authorities provided under sections 203 and 205 of the 4 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 5 U.S.C. 1702 and 1704) to carry out subsection (a). 6 (c) PENALTIES.—A person that knowingly violates, 7 attempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a viola- 8 tion of subsection (a) or any regulation, license, or order 9 issued to carry out that subsection shall be subject to the 10 penalties set forth in subsections (b) and (c) of section 11 206 of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act 12 (50 U.S.C. 1705) to the same extent as a person that com- 13 mits an unlawful act described in subsection (a) of that 14 section. 15 (d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec- 16 tion may be construed— 17 (1) to prohibit or otherwise affect the purchase 18 or lease of public or private agricultural land de- 19 scribed in subsection (a) by any person other than 20 a covered person; 21 (2) to prohibit or otherwise affect the use of 22 public or private agricultural land described in sub- 23 section (a) that is transferred to or acquired by a 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:19 May 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3357.IH H3357 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3357 IH person other than a covered person from a covered 1 person; or 2 (3) to require a covered person that owns or 3 leases public or private agricultural land described in 4 subsection (a) as of the date of enactment of this 5 Act to sell that land. 6 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON PARTICIPATION IN DEPARTMENT 7 OF AGRICULTURE PROGRAMS BY PERSONS 8 ASSOCIATED WITH CERTAIN FOREIGN GOV- 9 ERNMENTS. 10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 11 (b), notwithstanding any other provision of the law, the 12 President shall take such actions as may be necessary to 13 prohibit participation in Department of Agriculture pro- 14 grams by covered persons that have full or partial owner- 15 ship of agricultural land in the United States or lease agri- 16 cultural land in the United States. 17 (b) EXCLUSIONS.—Subsection (a) shall not apply to 18 participation in any program— 19 (1) relating to— 20 (A) food inspection or any other food safe- 21 ty regulatory requirements; or 22 (B) health and labor safety of individuals; 23 or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:19 May 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3357.IH H3357 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3357 IH (2) administered by the Farm Service Agency, 1 with respect to the administration of this Act or the 2 Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 3 1978 (7 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). 4 (c) PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP.—To participate in a De- 5 partment of Agriculture program described in subsection 6 (b) (except for a program under this Act or the Agricul- 7 tural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (7 8 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.)), a person described in subparagraph 9 (A) of section 2(2) that is a person described in subpara- 10 graph (B) of that section shall submit to the Secretary 11 proof that the person is described in subparagraph (B) 12 of that section. 13 SEC. 5. AGRICULTURAL FOREIGN INVESTMENT DISCLO- 14 SURE. 15 (a) INCLUSION OF SECURITY INTERESTS AND 16 LEASES IN REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 9 of the Agricultural 18 Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (7 19 U.S.C. 3508) is amended— 20 (A) by redesignating paragraphs (4) 21 through (6) as paragraphs (5) through (7), re- 22 spectively; and 23 (B) by inserting after paragraph (3) the 24 following: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:19 May 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3357.IH H3357 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3357 IH ‘‘(4) the term ‘interest’ includes— 1 ‘‘(A) a security interest; and 2 ‘‘(B) a lease, without regard to the dura- 3 tion of the lease;’’. 4 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 2 of 5 the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act 6 of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 3501) is amended by striking ‘‘, 7 other than a security interest,’’ each place it ap- 8 pears. 9 (b) CIVIL PENALTY.—Section 3 of the Agricultural 10 Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 11 3502) is amended— 12 (1) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘exceed 25 13 percent’’ and inserting ‘‘be less than 15 percent, or 14 exceed 30 percent,’’; and 15 (2) by adding at the end the following: 16 ‘‘(c) LIENS.—On imposing a penalty under sub- 17 section (a), the Secretary shall ensure that a lien is placed 18 on the agricultural land with respect to which the violation 19 occurred, which shall be released only on payment of the 20 penalty.’’. 21 (c) TRANSPARENCY.— 22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 7 of the Agricultural 23 Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (7 24 U.S.C. 3506) is amended to read as follows: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:19 May 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3357.IH H3357 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3357 IH ‘‘SEC. 7. PUBLIC DATA SETS. 1 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 2 date of enactment of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 3 2023 (Public Law 117–328), the Secretary shall publish 4 in the internet database established under section 773 of 5 division A of that Act human-readable and machine-read- 6 able data sets that— 7 ‘‘(1) contain all data that the Secretary pos- 8 sesses relating to reporting under this Act from each 9 report submitted to the Secretary under section 2; 10 and 11 ‘‘(2) as soon as practicable, but not later than 12 30 days, after the date of receipt of any report 13 under section 2, shall be updated with the data from 14 that report. 15 ‘‘(b) INCLUDED DATA.—The data sets established 16 under subsection (a) shall include— 17 ‘‘(1) a description of— 18 ‘‘(A) the purchase price paid for, or any 19 other consideration given for, each interest in 20 agricultural land for which a report is sub- 21 mitted under section 2; and 22 ‘‘(B) updated estimated values of each in- 23 terest in agricultural land described in subpara- 24 graph (A), as that information is made avail- 25 able to the Secretary, based on the most re- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:19 May 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3357.IH H3357 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3357 IH cently assessed value of the agricultural land or 1 another comparable method determined by the 2 Secretary; and 3 ‘‘(2) with respect to any agricultural land for 4 which a report is submitted under section 2, updated 5 descriptions of each foreign person who holds an in- 6 terest in at least 1 percent of the agricultural land, 7 as that information is made available to the Sec- 8 retary, categorized as a majority owner or a minor- 9 ity owner that holds an interest in the agricultural 10 land.’’. 11 (2) DEADLINE FOR DATABASE ESTABLISH- 12 MENT.—Section 773 of division A of the Consoli- 13 dated Appropriations Act, 2023 (Public Law 117– 14 328), is amended, in the first proviso, by striking ‘‘3 15 years’’ and inserting ‘‘2 years’’. 16 (d) DEFINITION OF FOREIGN PERSON.—Section 9(3) 17 of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 18 1978 (7 U.S.C. 3508(3)) is amended— 19 (1) in subparagraph (C)(ii)(IV), by striking 20 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 21 (2) in subparagraph (D), by inserting ‘‘and’’ 22 after the semicolon; and 23 (3) by adding at the end the following: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:19 May 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3357.IH H3357 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 3357 IH ‘‘(E) any person, other than an individual 1 or a government, that issues equity securities 2 that are primarily traded on a foreign securities 3 exchange within— 4 ‘‘(i) Iran; 5 ‘‘(ii) North Korea; 6 ‘‘(iii) the People’s Republic of China; 7 or 8 ‘‘(iv) the Russian Federation;’’. 9 SEC. 6. REPORTS. 10 (a) REPORT FROM THE SECRETARY ON FOREIGN 11 OWNERSHIP OF AGRICULTURAL LAND IN THE UNITED 12 STATES.— 13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 14 the date of enactment of this Act, and once every 2 15 years thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to Con- 16 gress a report describing— 17 (A) the risks and benefits, as determined 18 by the Secretary, that are associated with for- 19 eign ownership or lease of agricultural land in 20 rural areas (as defined in section 520 of the 21 Housing Act of 1949 (42 U.S.C. 1490)); 22 (B) the intended and unintended misrepre- 23 sentation of foreign land ownership in the an- 24 nual reports prepared by the Secretary describ- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:19 May 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3357.IH H3357 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 3357 IH ing foreign holdings of agricultural land due to 1 inaccurate reporting of foreign holdings of agri- 2 cultural land; 3 (C) the specific work that the Secretary 4 has undertaken to monitor erroneous reporting 5 required by the Agricultural Foreign Invest- 6 ment Disclosure Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 3501 et 7 seq.) that would result in a violation or civil 8 penalty; and 9 (D) the role of State and local government 10 authorities in tracking foreign ownership of ag- 11 ricultural land in the United States. 12 (2) PROTECTION OF INFORMATION.—In car- 13 rying out paragraph (1), the Secretary shall estab- 14 lish a plan to ensure the protection of personally 15 identifiable information. 16 (b) REPORT FROM THE DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL IN- 17 TELLIGENCE ON FOREIGN OWNERSHIP OF AGRICUL- 18 TURAL LAND IN THE UNITED STATES.— 19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 20 the date of enactment of this Act, and once every 2 21 years thereafter, the Director of National Intel- 22 ligence shall submit to the congressional recipients 23 described in paragraph (2) a report describing— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:19 May 30, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3357.IH H3357 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 3357 IH (A) an analysis of foreign malign influence 1 (as defined in section 119C(e) of the National 2 Security Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3059(e))) by 3 covered persons that have foreign ownership in 4 the United States agriculture industry; and 5 (B) the primary motives, as determined by 6 the Director of National Intelligence, of foreign 7 investors to acquire agricultural land. 8 (2) CONGRESSIONAL RECIPIENTS DESCRIBED.— 9 The report under paragraph (1) shall be submitted 10 to— 11 (A) the Committee on Banking, Housing, 12 and Urban Affairs of the Senate; 13 (B) the Committee on Agriculture, Nutri- 14 tion, and Forestry of the Senate; 15 (C) the Select Committee on Intelligence of 16 the Senate; 17 (D) the Committee on Foreign Relations of 18 the Senate; 19 (E) the Committee o [Text truncated for display. 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