FARMLAND Act of 2023

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2060 To amend the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 to strengthen oversight over foreign investment in the United States agricul- tural industry, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 20, 2023 Ms. ERNST (for herself and Ms. STABENOW) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nu- trition, and Forestry A BILL To amend the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 to strengthen oversight over foreign invest- ment in the United States agricultural industry, 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Foreign Agricultural 4 Restrictions to Maintain Local Agriculture and National 5 Defense Act of 2023’’ or the ‘‘FARMLAND Act of 2023’’. 6 SEC. 2. AGRICULTURAL FOREIGN INVESTMENT. 7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:05 Jul 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2060.IS S2060 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •S 2060 IS (1) agriculture is vital for the national security 1 and economic prosperity of the United States and is 2 a key element of United States national power; 3 (2) agriculture of the United States feeds the 4 people of the United States and the world, and has 5 been a key contributor to advancements in tech- 6 nology and medicine; 7 (3) strategic competitors of the United States 8 have hegemonic goals to dominate the global agri- 9 culture industry and undermine the United States 10 agriculture sector through intellectual property theft 11 of seeds and other patented agriculture-related tech- 12 nologies; 13 (4) China in particular has increased agricul- 14 tural investments tenfold over the past decade and 15 continues to make investments in United States ag- 16 riculture, agribusiness, and animal processing indus- 17 tries, including by acquiring ownership of farmland 18 in the United States; 19 (5) the United States must prevent agricultural 20 espionage and theft of intellectual property con- 21 ducted by China and other foreign entities of con- 22 cern (as defined in section 9 of the Agricultural For- 23 eign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 24 3508)); 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:05 Jul 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2060.IS S2060 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •S 2060 IS (6) agricultural intellectual property theft may 1 enable global competitors to undercut United States 2 producers in international seed markets; 3 (7) the Federal Government does not fully exer- 4 cise its authorized oversight over investment trans- 5 actions within the agricultural industry, causing— 6 (A) United States farmland to be under 7 foreign acquisition; and 8 (B) the influence of foreign adversaries on 9 agriculture in the United States to be an un- 10 known risk factor; and 11 (8) the Federal Government must enforce and 12 modernize existing laws to monitor and prevent ma- 13 lign actions of foreign entities of concern (as defined 14 in section 9 of the Agricultural Foreign Investment 15 Disclosure Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 3508)) on the 16 farms and land of the United States. 17 (b) CIVIL PENALTIES.—Section 3 of the Agricultural 18 Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 19 3502) is amended— 20 (1) by redesignating subsection (b) as sub- 21 section (d); 22 (2) in subsection (a), in the matter preceding 23 paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘(a) If the’’ and all that 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:05 Jul 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2060.IS S2060 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •S 2060 IS follows through ‘‘Any such civil penalty’’ in the third 1 sentence and inserting the following: 2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A person shall be subject to a 3 civil penalty imposed by the Secretary if the Secretary de- 4 termines that the person— 5 ‘‘(1) has failed to submit a report in accordance 6 with the provisions of section 2; or 7 ‘‘(2) has knowingly submitted a report under 8 section 2 that— 9 ‘‘(A) does not contain all the information 10 required to be in such report; or 11 ‘‘(B) contains information that is mis- 12 leading or false. 13 ‘‘(b) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS FROM CIVIL PEN- 14 ALTIES.—A civil penalty collected under subsection (a) 15 shall be available to the Secretary without appropriation 16 and remain available until expended for the purpose of en- 17 forcing this Act. 18 ‘‘(c) CIVIL ACTION.—Any civil penalty imposed by 19 the Secretary under subsection (a)’’; and 20 (3) in subsection (d) (as so redesignated)— 21 (A) by striking the subsection designation 22 and all that follows through ‘‘The amount’’ and 23 inserting the following: 24 ‘‘(d) AMOUNT OF PENALTY.—The amount’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:05 Jul 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2060.IS S2060 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •S 2060 IS (B) by striking ‘‘of this section’’; and 1 (C) by striking ‘‘shall not exceed 25 per- 2 cent’’ and inserting ‘‘shall be not less than 5 3 percent, but not more than 25 percent,’’. 4 (c) PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF NONCOMPLIANT PER- 5 SONS.—Section 3 of the Agricultural Foreign Investment 6 Disclosure Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 3502) (as amended by 7 subsection (b)) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 8 lowing: 9 ‘‘(e) PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF NONCOMPLIANT PER- 10 SONS.—The Secretary shall publicly disclose the name of 11 each person who paid to the Secretary a civil penalty im- 12 posed under subsection (a), including, if applicable, after 13 the completion of an appeal of a civil penalty.’’. 14 (d) PUBLICATION OF REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.— 15 Section 3 of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclo- 16 sure Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 3502) (as amended by sub- 17 section (c)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 18 ‘‘(f) OUTREACH.—Using existing resources and ef- 19 forts to the maximum extent practicable, the Secretary 20 shall carry out a nationwide outreach program directed 21 primarily towards landlords, owners, operators, persons, 22 producers, and tenants (as those terms are defined in sec- 23 tion 718.2 of title 7, Code of Federal Regulations (as in 24 effect on the date of enactment of the Foreign Agricul- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:05 Jul 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2060.IS S2060 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •S 2060 IS tural Restrictions to Maintain Local Agriculture and Na- 1 tional Defense Act of 2023)) of agricultural land and 2 county property appraiser offices, land appraisal compa- 3 nies, and real estate auction companies to increase public 4 awareness and provide education regarding the reporting 5 requirements under this section.’’. 6 (e) DUE DILIGENCE REQUIREMENTS.—The Agricul- 7 tural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 is 8 amended by inserting after section 4 (7 U.S.C. 3503) the 9 following: 10 ‘‘SEC. 5. DUE DILIGENCE REQUIREMENTS. 11 ‘‘Any entity (including a buyer, seller, real estate 12 agent, broker, and title company) involved in the purchase 13 or transfer of agricultural land in the United States 14 shall— 15 ‘‘(1) conduct due diligence relating to the agri- 16 culture land being purchased or transferred; and 17 ‘‘(2) certify to the Secretary that, to the best of 18 the knowledge and belief of the entity, the entity is 19 in compliance with all applicable provisions of this 20 Act.’’. 21 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:05 Jul 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2060.IS S2060 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •S 2060 IS SEC. 3. REPORT ON AGRICULTURAL LAND PURCHASING 1 ACTIVITIES IN THE UNITED STATES BY COUN- 2 TRIES DESIGNATED AS STATE SPONSORS OF 3 TERRORISM AND CERTAIN OTHER COUN- 4 TRIES. 5 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 6 (1) AGRICULTURAL LAND.—The term ‘‘agricul- 7 tural land’’ has the meaning given the term in sec- 8 tion 9 of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Dis- 9 closure Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 3508). 10 (2) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON- 11 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con- 12 gress’’ means— 13 (A) the Committee on Agriculture, Nutri- 14 tion, and Forestry of the Senate; 15 (B) the Committee on Homeland Security 16 and Governmental Affairs of the Senate; 17 (C) the Committee on Intelligence of the 18 Senate; 19 (D) the Committee on Homeland Security 20 of the House of Representatives; 21 (E) the Committee on Agriculture of the 22 House of Representatives; and 23 (F) the Permanent Select Committee on 24 Intelligence of the House of Representatives. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:05 Jul 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2060.IS S2060 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •S 2060 IS (3) COVERED FOREIGN COUNTRY.—The term 1 ‘‘covered foreign country’’ means— 2 (A) the People’s Republic of China; 3 (B) the Russian Federation; 4 (C) a state sponsor of terrorism; and 5 (D) any other country identified by the 6 Secretary of Homeland Security or the Sec- 7 retary of Agriculture. 8 (4) COVERED FOREIGN PERSON.—The term 9 ‘‘covered foreign person’’ means a foreign person (as 10 defined in section 9 of the Agricultural Foreign In- 11 vestment Disclosure Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 3508)) 12 that is a citizen of, or headquartered in, as applica- 13 ble, a covered foreign country. 14 (5) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean- 15 ing given the term in section 9 of the Agricultural 16 Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (7 17 U.S.C. 3508). 18 (6) STATE SPONSOR OF TERRORISM.—The term 19 ‘‘state sponsor of terrorism’’ means a country the 20 government of which the Secretary of State has de- 21 termined has repeatedly provided support for acts of 22 international terrorism, for purposes of— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:05 Jul 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2060.IS S2060 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 9 •S 2060 IS (A) section 1754(c)(1)(A)(i) of the Export 1 Control Reform Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 2 4813(c)(1)(A)(i)); 3 (B) section 620A of the Foreign Assistance 4 Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2371); 5 (C) section 40(d) of the Arms Export Con- 6 trol Act (22 U.S.C. 2780(d)); or 7 (D) any other provision of law. 8 (b) REPORT.— 9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 10 after the date of enactment of this Act, and annually 11 thereafter, the Secretary of Agriculture, with sup- 12 port from the Secretary of Homeland Security and 13 the head of any other appropriate Federal agency, 14 shall submit to the appropriate committees of Con- 15 gress a report describing the national security risks 16 of the purchase and management of agricultural 17 land by covered foreign persons. 18 (2) CONTENTS.—A report submitted under 19 paragraph (1) shall include the following with re- 20 spect to the year covered by the report: 21 (A) A description of— 22 (i) the number of acres of agricultural 23 land owned or managed by covered foreign 24 persons, organized by State; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:05 Jul 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2060.IS S2060 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 10 •S 2060 IS (ii) for each State, the percentage of 1 land owned or managed by covered foreign 2 persons compared to the total acreage of 3 the State. 4 (B) An analysis of the possible threat to 5 food security, food safety, biosecurity, or envi- 6 ronmental protection due to the ownership of 7 agricultural land by each covered foreign coun- 8 try through covered foreign persons. 9 (C) An analysis of the annual and total 10 cost of support for agricultural land owned by 11 covered foreign persons through farm programs 12 administered by the Farm Service Agency. 13 (D) An analysis of the use of agricultural 14 land for industrial espionage or intellectual 15 property transfer by covered foreign persons. 16 (E) An analysis of the potential use by 17 covered foreign persons of agricultural land in 18 close proximity to manufacturing facilities, 19 water sources, and other critical infrastructure 20 to monitor, interrupt, or disrupt activities crit- 21 ical to the national and economic security of the 22 United States. 23 (F) An analysis of other threats to the ag- 24 ricultural industry or national security of the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:05 Jul 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2060.IS S2060 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 11 •S 2060 IS United States due to the ownership of agricul- 1 tural land by covered foreign persons. 2 (3) UNCLASSIFIED FORM.—A report submitted 3 under this subsection shall— 4 (A) be submitted in unclassified form, but 5 may include a classified annex; and 6 (B) be consistent with the protection of in- 7 telligence sources and methods. 8 SEC. 4. INVESTIGATIVE ACTIONS. 9 (a) INVESTIGATIVE ACTIONS.—Section 4 of the Agri- 10 cultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (7 11 U.S.C. 3503) is amended to read as follows: 12 ‘‘SEC. 4. INVESTIGATIVE ACTIONS. 13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall appoint an 14 employee in the Senior Executive Service (as described in 15 section 3131 of title 5, United States Code) of the Depart- 16 ment of Agriculture to serve as Chief of Operations of In- 17 vestigative Actions (referred to in this section as the ‘Chief 18 of Operations’), who shall hire, appoint, and maintain ad- 19 ditional employees to monitor compliance with the provi- 20 sions of this Act. 21 ‘‘(b) CHIEF OF OPERATIONS.—The Chief of Oper- 22 ations may serve in such position simultaneously with a 23 concurrent position within the Department of Agriculture. 24 ‘‘(c) SECURITY.—The Secretary shall— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:05 Jul 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2060.IS S2060 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 12 •S 2060 IS ‘‘(1) provide classified storage, meeting, and 1 other spaces, as necessary, for personnel; and 2 ‘‘(2) assist personnel in obtaining security clear- 3 ances. 4 ‘‘(d) DUTIES.—The Chief of Operations shall— 5 ‘‘(1) monitor compliance with this Act; 6 ‘‘(2) refer noncompliance with this Act to the 7 Secretary, the Farm Service Agency, and any other 8 appropriate authority; 9 ‘‘(3) conduct investigations, in coordination 10 with the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau 11 of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Secu- 12 rity, the Department of the Treasury, the National 13 Security Council, and State and local law enforce- 14 ment agencies, on malign efforts— 15 ‘‘(A) to steal agricultural knowledge and 16 technology; and 17 ‘‘(B) to disrupt the United States agricul- 18 tural base; 19 ‘‘(4) conduct an annual audit of t [Text truncated for display. 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