Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1629 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 1629
5	5	To amend the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 to
6	6	remove the limitation on the amount of a civil penalty, and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	FEBRUARY26, 2025
9	9	Ms. P
10	10	EREZ(for herself and Mr. MOOLENAAR) introduced the following bill;
11	11	which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
12	12	A BILL
13	13	To amend the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure
14	14	Act of 1978 to remove the limitation on the amount
15	15	of a civil penalty, and for other purposes.
16	16	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
17	17	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
18	18	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
19	19	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Farmland Security Act 4
20	20	of 2025’’. 5
21	21	SEC. 2. IMPROVING AGRICULTURAL FOREIGN INVESTMENT 6
22	22	DISCLOSURE. 7
23	23	(a) C
24	24	IVILPENALTY.—Section 3 of the Agricultural 8
25	25	Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 9
26	26	3502) is amended— 10
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29	29	•HR 1629 IH
30	30	(1) in subsection (a), by striking the second 1
31	31	sentence; 2
32	32	(2) in subsection (b)— 3
33	33	(A) by striking ‘‘The amount’’ and insert-4
34	34	ing ‘‘Except as provided in subsection (c), the 5
35	35	amount’’; and 6
36	36	(B) by striking ‘‘Act,’’ and all that follows 7
37	37	through the period at the end and inserting 8
38	38	‘‘Act.’’; and 9
39	39	(3) by adding at the end the following: 10
40	40	‘‘(c) P
41	41	ENALTY FORSHELLCORPORATIONS.— 11
42	42	‘‘(1) D
43	43	EFINITION OF SHELL CORPORATION .—In 12
44	44	this subsection, the term ‘shell corporation’ means a 13
45	45	corporation, company, association, firm, partnership, 14
46	46	society, joint stock company, trust, estate, or any 15
47	47	other legal entity that has no or nominal operations. 16
48	48	‘‘(2) A
49	49	MOUNT OF PENALTY .—The amount of a 17
50	50	civil penalty under subsection (a) for a foreign- 18
51	51	owned shell corporation, as determined by the Sec-19
52	52	retary, shall be 100 percent of the fair market value, 20
53	53	on the date of the assessment of the penalty, of the 21
54	54	interest in agricultural land with respect to which 22
55	55	the violation occurred. 23
56	56	‘‘(3) N
57	57	ONAPPLICATION OF PENALTY .—A shell 24
58	58	corporation shall not be subject to a civil penalty 25
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61	61	•HR 1629 IH
62	62	under this section if the shell corporation remedies 1
63	63	a defective filing or failure to file not later than 60 2
64	64	days after the Secretary provides notice to the shell 3
65	65	corporation of the defective filing or failure to file.’’. 4
66	66	(b) I
67	67	NVESTIGATIVEACTIONS.—Section 4 of the Agri-5
68	68	cultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (7 6
69	69	U.S.C. 3503) is amended— 7
70	70	(1) by striking ‘‘The Secretary’’ and inserting 8
71	71	the following: 9
72	72	‘‘(a) I
73	73	NGENERAL.—The Secretary’’; and 10
74	74	(2) by adding at the end the following: 11
75	75	‘‘(b) A
76	76	UDIT.—The Secretary shall conduct an annual 12
77	77	compliance audit of not less than 10 percent of the reports 13
78	78	submitted under section 2 for the year covered by the 14
79	79	audit to ensure the completeness and accuracy of reports 15
80	80	submitted under that section. In conducting, such audit, 16
81	81	the Secretary may consult with such other heads of such 17
82	82	other Federal agencies as the Secretary determines appro-18
83	83	priate. 19
84	84	‘‘(c) T
85	85	RAINING.—The Secretary shall provide annual 20
86	86	training to State and county-level personnel relating to 21
87	87	identifying agricultural land for which— 22
88	88	‘‘(1) a report is required to be submitted under 23
89	89	section 2; but 24
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92	92	•HR 1629 IH
93	93	‘‘(2) no report has been submitted by the appli-1
94	94	cable foreign person.’’. 2
95	95	(c) R
96	96	EPORTS.—Section 6 of the Agricultural Foreign 3
97	97	Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 3505) is 4
98	98	amended— 5
99	99	(1) by striking the section designation and 6
100	100	heading and all that follows through ‘‘Not later 7
101	101	than’’ and inserting the following: 8
102	102	‘‘SEC. 6. REPORTS. 9
103	103	‘‘(a) T
104	104	OSTATES.—Not later than’’; and 10
105	105	(2) by adding at the end the following: 11
106	106	‘‘(b) T
107	107	OCONGRESS.— 12
108	108	‘‘(1) I
109	109	N GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 13
110	110	after the date of enactment of the Farmland Secu-14
111	111	rity Act of 2025, and annually thereafter, the Sec-15
112	112	retary shall submit to Congress a report describing 16
113	113	the results of the research carried out under para-17
114	114	graph (2). 18
115	115	‘‘(2) R
116	116	ESEARCH.—The Secretary shall carry out 19
117	117	research on— 20
118	118	‘‘(A) the agricultural leasing activities in 21
119	119	the United States of foreign persons, including 22
120	120	the impact of those activities on family farms, 23
121	121	rural communities, and the domestic food sup-24
122	122	ply; 25
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125	125	•HR 1629 IH
126	126	‘‘(B) trends relating to the purchase of ag-1
127	127	ricultural land in the United States by foreign- 2
128	128	owned shell corporations; and 3
129	129	‘‘(C) foreign ownership of agricultural pro-4
130	130	duction capacity and foreign participation in 5
131	131	agricultural economic activity in the United 6
132	132	States.’’. 7
133	133	(d) A
134	134	UTHORIZATION OFAPPROPRIATIONS.—The Ag-8
135	135	ricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (7 9
136	136	U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 10
137	137	the following: 11
138	138	‘‘SEC. 11. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 12
139	139	‘‘There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec-13
140	140	retary to carry out this Act $2,000,000 for each of fiscal 14
141	141	years 2025 through 2030.’’. 15
142	142	Æ
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