RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Virginia may quickly ban China, Iran and different overseas adversaries from shopping for farmland within the commonwealth.
In a 23-16 bipartisan vote Monday, the Democrat-led Virginia Senate handed a invoice from Republican state Sen. Richard Stuart to ban overseas governments from making agricultural land purchases after 2023.
The laws seems poised to be signed into legislation by Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), who throughout his State of the Commonwealth handle known as for Virginia to ban overseas entities with ties to the Chinese language Neighborhood Celebration from shopping for farmland.
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Underneath the laws, the ban would apply to overseas governments or others the U.S. Secretary of Commerce has decided “to have engaged in a long-term sample or severe situations of conduct considerably opposed to the nationwide safety of america or safety and security of United States individuals.” It could not void purchases made earlier than 2023.
The invoice would additionally require the Virginia Division of Agriculture and Shopper Companies to offer a yearly report back to the governor and Basic Meeting on the farmland owned by overseas governments.
The current list of “foreign adversaries” acknowledged by the U.S. contains The Folks’s Republic of China, the Republic of Cuba, the Islamic Republic of Iran, North Korea, Russia and Venezuelan politician Nicolás Maduro.
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In 2021, the U.S. Division of Agriculture discovered overseas entities and individuals held an curiosity in nearly 41 million acres of the nation’s agricultural land — 3.1% of complete privately owned land.
According to the department’s 2021 data, most of this land was owned by Canada, the Netherlands, Italy, the UK and Germany. The division discovered that China held slightly below 1% of the foreign-owned U.S. farmland on the finish of 2021.
The same invoice is moving through the House of Delegates and is anticipated to move. The laws has an emergency clause, that means it might take impact as soon as signed into legislation.
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