INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana lawmakers are trying to pass a bill that would stop countries that are considered adversaries of the United States from buying or leasing farmland in Indiana.
The bill would also prohibit the same practice for land near military bases, armories and maintenance facilities.
So far House Bill 1183 has received unanimous support from both Republicans and Democrats when it passed out of the House earlier this session.
Lawmakers, including the bill’s author Republican Rep. Kendell Culp, are couching this as a food security issue which – ultimately – they believe is an issue of national security.
House Bill 1183 aims to make sure countries who are adversaries of the United States don’t set up shop in Indiana.
“This might be the most important bill we have in regards to securing all of the state of Indiana,” said Republican Sen. Jean Leising, who sits on the Senate’s Agriculture Committee.
Here are the countries the United States considers adversaries: Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Venezuela and Cuba.
One national security expert testified before the Senate’s Agriculture Committee Monday morning saying China is the one that keeps him up at night.
“Many national security experts, including myself, believe China represents the greatest threat to our national security in this generation,” national security expert Brian Kavenaugh told the committee.
According to Leising, there’s currently a Chinese company that wants to set up a grain processing plant in Northern Indiana right near the intersection of two railroads.
“That is certainly not a mistake, ma’am,” Kavenaugh told Leising.
“They do their homework, and they understand what would be the greatest benefit to a community to give them the access they desire,” Kavenaugh added.
According to lawmakers on the committee, that same company was already denied access in North Dakota, one of 24 other states with laws like the one Indiana lawmakers are trying to pass.
Under the bill, people and companies from foreign adversarial countries would not be able to buy or lease Indiana farmland, mineral or water rights.
They also couldn’t buy or lease land within 10 miles of an armory or military maintenance facility or within 50 miles of a military base.
According to Culp, the United State has 1.3 billion acres of farmland with 40 million of it owned by foreign countries. Canada owns the most at a third of that 40 million acres.
China owns 400,000 acres in the United States. According to Culp, 2.2 percent of Indiana’s land is owned by foreign countries.
Any foreign company or person that does buy or lease land in Indiana would have to provide proof they weren’t connected to one of the six countries that are listed as adversaries of the United States.
Indiana’s Attorney General would be required to investigate if the proof a buyer provided was in question.
House Bill 1183 also contains an exception for students from one of those six adversarial countries.
Students who are from one of those countries, who go to a university in Indiana, could still rent an apartment.
The ACLU of Indiana says the bill goes too far and would punish people who may have left one of those six countries years ago, living legally in the United States for decades since then.
“You are telling them they are no longer welcome here, except as an employee of someone else,” said Chris Daley, ACLU of Indiana.
“At the end of the day, we have to step back and understand what the breadth and scope of this bill is, and ask whether or not it represents Hoosier values,” Daley added.
Lawmakers on the Senate’s Agriculture Committee passed House Bill 1183 unanimously out of committee Monday.