H.R. 1629

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1629 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1629

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.

_______________________________________________________________________

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.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Farmland Security Act of 2025''.

SEC. 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:

``SEC. 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:

``SEC. 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.''.
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