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This bill would strengthen rules on foreign ownership of U.S. farmland by making it easier to punish bad or missing reports, especially when a foreign-owned shell company is involved. It would remove the current cap on some civil penalties and, for foreign-owned shell corporations that fail to file properly, allow a penalty equal to the full fair market value of the land involved. The bill also calls for more government checking and training to help find unreported foreign-owned farmland, requires new research and reports to Congress on foreign land ownership and leasing, and provides money to carry out these changes.
- Foreign-owned shell corporations could face a penalty equal to 100% of the fair market value of the agricultural land tied to the violation.
- A shell corporation would not be penalized if it fixes a bad filing or late filing within 60 days after being notified.
- The Agriculture Secretary would have to audit at least 10% of submitted reports each year to check that they are complete and accurate.
- The bill would require annual training for state and county workers to help them spot farmland that should have been reported but was not, and it would require a report to Congress within 180 days and every year after that on foreign leasing, shell company land purchases, and foreign control of farm production. It also authorizes $2 million a year from 2025 through 2030.
Official Summaries
Farmland Security Act of 2025
This bill authorizes increased civil penalties for violations of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (AFIDA) and increases Department of Agriculture (USDA) oversight of and research into foreign investment in agricultural land. As background, AFIDA and the regulations that implemented the act require foreign investors who acquire, transfer, or hold an interest in U.S. agricultural land to report such holdings and transactions to USDA.
In general, the bill allows USDA to determine an appropriate civil penalty amount for an AFIDA violation by removing the cap that currently prohibits the civil penalty from exceeding 25% of the fair market value of the interest in the agricultural land associated with the violation.
Under an exception in the bill, the civil penalty for a foreign-owned shell corporation is 100% of the fair market value of the interest in the agricultural land. The bill defines a shell corporation to include a company, association, firm, partnership, society, joint stock company, trust, or estate that has no or nominal operations. The penalty does not apply if the shell corporation remedies a defective filing or failure to file within 60 days of USDA providing notice.
USDA must conduct annual compliance audits of at least 10% of the reports. Further, USDA must provide state and county-level personnel certain annual training.
USDA must also annually conduct research and submit a report to Congress on foreign investment in agricultural land, including trends in the purchase of U.S. agricultural land by foreign-owned shell corporations.
Current Full Text
[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 845 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 845
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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 4, 2025
Ms. Baldwin (for herself and Mr. Grassley) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
_______________________________________________________________________
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.
``(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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