Western legislatures take on foreign land ownership

[quaint]

HighCountryNews

The Chinese surveillance balloon seen over Montana in January riled up state legislatures and got them asking the question: How much control should foreign countries have over U.S. land and natural resources?

Senate Republicans in Texas answered, "None whatsoever," advancing a bill that would prohibit Chinese, Russian and Iranian citizens from owning not just land, but even a home, under the pretext of national security. "This bill may prove even more significant in light of a Chinese spy balloon that traversed across the continental United States," said Sen. Lois Kolkorst, the bill’s author.

The bills generally focus on "foreign adversaries" like China, even though the data shows that Canadians and Europeans possess far more property than citizens of any other country. Of the 40 million acres of U.S. agricultural land purchased by foreign interests, 0.9% are owned by China. Only 73 acres were linked to Russia, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The majority of foreign-owned ag land — 62% — is controlled by Canadian and European business interests.

"Rather than focusing specifically on another nation, I think we should focus on absentee ownership in general," said professor Loka Ashwood, a rural sociologist at the University of Kentucky. An absentee owner is a person who lives outside of the county or country where the land in question is located. It’s the primary way that land becomes consolidated by corporate agribusiness, said Ashwood. Such businesses — including the Seaboard Corporation, a global food, energy and transportation company, and Border Valley Trading, one of the largest exporters of compressed hay products in the West — aren’t always foreign, Ashwood added.

More at link plus state specifics for California, Arizona, Washington, Utah, Montana, Texas

[Samrob]

1. I'll just say this: They are at least 40 years too late. nt

[judesedit]

2. What about waterways, bridges, ranches, forests, and other infrastructure?

Utilities and major corporations in this country, too?

[2naSalit]

3. Limited leases.