H.R. 1629

119 HR 1629 IH: Farmland Security Act of 2025
 U.S. House of Representatives
 2025-02-26
 text/xml
 EN
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 I  119th CONGRESS  1st Session  H. R. 1629  IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES   February 26, 2025   Ms. Perez  (for herself and  Mr. Moolenaar ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the  Committee on Agriculture    A BILL
To amend the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 to remove the limitation on the amount of a civil penalty, and for other purposes.
1.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the   Farmland Security Act of 2025  .
2.
Improving agricultural foreign investment disclosure
(a)
Civil penalty
Section 3 of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 ( 7 U.S.C. 3502 ) is amended—
(1)
in subsection (a), by striking the second sentence;
(2)
in subsection (b)—
(A)
by striking  The amount  and inserting  Except as provided in subsection (c), the amount ; and
(B)
by striking  Act,  and all that follows through the period at the end and inserting  Act. ; and
(3)
by adding at the end the following:
(c)
Penalty for shell corporations
(1)
Definition of shell corporation
In this subsection, the term  shell corporation  means a corporation, company, association, firm, partnership, society, joint stock company, trust, estate, or any other legal entity that has no or nominal operations.
(2)
Amount of penalty
The amount of a civil penalty under subsection (a) for a foreign-owned shell corporation, as determined by the Secretary, shall be 100 percent of the fair market value, on the date of the assessment of the penalty, of the interest in agricultural land with respect to which the violation occurred.
(3)
Nonapplication of penalty
A shell corporation shall not be subject to a civil penalty under this section if the shell corporation remedies a defective filing or failure to file not later than 60 days after the Secretary provides notice to the shell corporation of the defective filing or failure to file.
 .
(b)
Investigative actions
Section 4 of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 ( 7 U.S.C. 3503 ) is amended—
(1)
by striking  The Secretary  and inserting the following:
(a)
In general
The Secretary
 ; and
(2)
by adding at the end the following:
(b)
Audit
The Secretary shall conduct an annual compliance audit of not less than 10 percent of the reports submitted under section 2 for the year covered by the audit to ensure the completeness and accuracy of reports submitted under that section. In conducting, such audit, the Secretary may consult with such other heads of such other Federal agencies as the Secretary determines appropriate.
(c)
Training
The Secretary shall provide annual training to State and county-level personnel relating to identifying agricultural land for which—
(1)
a report is required to be submitted under section 2; but
(2)
no report has been submitted by the applicable foreign person.
 .
(c)
Reports
Section 6 of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 ( 7 U.S.C. 3505 ) is amended—
(1)
by striking the section designation and heading and all that follows through  Not later than  and inserting the following:
6.
Reports
(a)
To States
Not later than
 ; and
(2)
by adding at the end the following:
(b)
To Congress
(1)
In general
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of the  Farmland Security Act of 2025 , and annually thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report describing the results of the research carried out under paragraph (2).
(2)
Research
The Secretary shall carry out research on—
(A)
the agricultural leasing activities in the United States of foreign persons, including the impact of those activities on family farms, rural communities, and the domestic food supply;
(B)
trends relating to the purchase of agricultural land in the United States by foreign-owned shell corporations; and
(C)
foreign ownership of agricultural production capacity and foreign participation in agricultural economic activity in the United States.
 .
(d)
Authorization of appropriations
The Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 ( 7 U.S.C. 3501 et seq. ) is amended by adding at the end the following:
11.
Authorization of appropriations
There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this Act $2,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 through 2030.
 .