I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7131 

To amend the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 to 

establish an additional reporting requirement, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 30, 2024 

Mr. BACON (for himself, Mr. ALFORD, Mrs. HINSON, Mr. BOST, Mr. 

NEWHOUSE, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. CUELLAR, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. FINSTAD, 

and Ms. HOULAHAN) 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 establish an additional reporting requirement, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘AFIDA Improvements 

5 Act of 2024’’. 

6 SEC. 2. REPORTING; ENFORCEMENT. 

7 (a) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—Section 2 of the 

8 Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 


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1 (7 U.S.C. 3501) is amended by adding at the end the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(g) MINIMUM OWNERSHIP.—In the case of agricul4 tural land in which more than 1 foreign person acquires 

5 or transfers any interest, other than a security interest, 

6 the reporting requirements under this section shall apply 

7 to each foreign person who holds at least a 1 percent inter8 est in that land— 

9 ‘‘(1) directly through the first tier of ownership; 

10 or 

11 ‘‘(2) in the aggregate through an interest in 

12 other entities at various tiers.’’. 

13 (b) ENFORCEMENT.—Section 4 of the Agricultural 

14 Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 

15 3503) is amended— 

16 (1) by striking the section designation and all 

17 that follows through ‘‘The Secretary’’ and inserting 

18 the following: 

19 ‘‘SEC. 4. INVESTIGATIVE ACTIONS. 

20 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary’’; and 

21 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

22 ‘‘(b) ACTIONS BY FPAC–BC.—As part of the actions 

23 taken under subsection (a), the Farm Production and 

24 Conservation Business Center shall— 


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1 ‘‘(1) take such actions as are necessary to vali2 date the data collected under section 2, including re3 vising and validating information throughout the 

4 data collection process; 

5 ‘‘(2) take such actions as are necessary to en6 sure compliance with section 2(g); and 

7 ‘‘(3) in coordination with the Farm Service 

8 Agency, to the maximum extent practicable, identify 

9 persons that have carried out an activity subject to 

10 a civil penalty described in paragraph (1) or (2) of 

11 section 3(a).’’. 

12 SEC. 3. AGRICULTURAL FOREIGN INVESTMENT DISCLO13 SURE IMPROVEMENTS. 

14 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

15 (1) AFIDA.—The term ‘‘AFIDA’’ means the 

16 Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 

17 1978 (7 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). 

18 (2) FPAC–BC.—The term ‘‘FPAC–BC’’ means 

19 the Farm Production and Conservation Business 

20 Center. 

21 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

22 the Secretary of Agriculture. 

23 (b) MOU WITH CFIUS.—Not later than 1 year after 

24 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall enter 

25 into 1 or more memoranda of understanding with the 


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1 Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States 

2 under which the Secretary shall provide the Committee 

3 with all relevant information relating to reports on foreign 

4 ownership of United States agricultural land submitted to 

5 the Secretary under section 2 of AFIDA (7 U.S.C. 3501), 

6 including information on— 

7 (1) each report submitted to the Secretary; and 

8 (2) with respect to each such report, the iden9 tity of the person submitting the report and the date 

10 of submission. 

11 (c) AFIDA HANDBOOK UPDATES.— 

12 (1) FIRST UPDATE.—Not later than 1 year 

13 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec14 retary shall update the most recent version of the 

15 Farm Service Agency handbook entitled ‘‘Foreign 

16 Investment Disclosure’’ as determined necessary by 

17 the Secretary for the effective implementation of 

18 AFIDA, which update shall incorporate rec19 ommendations made by the report of the Govern20 ment Accountability Office entitled ‘‘Foreign Invest21 ments in U.S. Agricultural Land: Enhancing Efforts 

22 to Collect, Track, and Share Key Information Could 

23 Better Identify National Security Risks’’ and dated 

24 January 18, 2024. 


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1 (2) SUBSEQUENT UPDATES.—After updating 

2 the handbook described in paragraph (1) under that 

3 paragraph, the Secretary shall carry out an update 

4 of that handbook every 10 years thereafter, includ5 ing by incorporating any recommendations of the 

6 Government Accountability Office. 

7 (d) ANALYSIS OF STREAMLINED PROCESS FOR

8 ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION AND RETENTION OF REPORTS

9 UNDER AFIDA.— 

10 (1) DEFINITION OF COVERED PROCESS.—In 

11 this subsection, the term ‘‘covered process’’ means 

12 the streamlined process for electronic submission 

13 and retention of disclosures made under AFIDA re14 quired under section 773 of division A of the Con15 solidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (7 U.S.C. 3501 

16 note; 136 Stat. 4509). 

17 (2) ANALYSIS.—Unless the covered process is 

18 established by not later than 1 year after the date 

19 of enactment of this Act, the FPAC–BC, in coordi20 nation with the Farm Service Agency, shall, by that 

21 date— 

22 (A) carry out an analysis of the specific 

23 steps required to establish that process and the 

24 elements of that process; and 


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1 (B) develop a timeline for specific imple2 mentation benchmarks to be met. 

3 (3) REPORT.—The Secretary shall submit to 

4 the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and For5 estry of the Senate and the Committee on Agri6 culture of the House of Representatives a report de7 scribing the analysis and implementation timeline 

8 under paragraph (2), if applicable. 

Æ 


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