Republican California State Sen. Steven Choi introduced a bill that would ban adversarial foreign actors from purchasing, acquiring, leasing, or holding a controlling interest in California agricultural land.
Senate Bill 1176 would restrict ownership by businesses or governments from countries designated as nonmarket economies under federal law or identified as national security threats in the most recent Annual Threat Assessment issued by the U.S. Director of National Intelligence.
The countries currently on the list are Angola, Laos, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.
Under Choi's legislation, they would be barred from holding a controlling interest in California agricultural land and be forced to divest in 90 days, subject to judicial review.
A study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture last year found foreign entities owned more than 46 million acres of U.S. agricultural land in 2024, including 1,357,750 acres in California, with over 18% held by countries identified as national security threats.
"In an era of rising geopolitical tension, California must act to protect its agricultural land and critical infrastructure from adversarial control," Choi said. "This bill ensures that our farmland remains under the control of the United States and its allies."
A bill introduced in the Senate in 2022, Senate Bill 1084, the Food and Farm Security Act, aimed to ban all foreign ownership of agricultural land in California.
It would've also required the California USDA to report any foreign ownership of state land or resources.
The bill was vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
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