I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 6469 

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 21, 2023 

Ms. PEREZ (for herself, Mr. MOOLENAAR, and Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota) 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 remove the limitation on the amount 

of a civil penalty, 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 ‘‘Farmland Security Act 

5 of 2023’’. 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
2 

•HR 6469 IH

1 SEC. 2. IMPROVING AGRICULTURAL FOREIGN INVESTMENT 

2 DISCLOSURE. 

3 (a) CIVIL PENALTY.—Section 3 of the Agricultural 

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

5 3502) is amended— 

6 (1) in subsection (a), by striking the second 

7 sentence; 

8 (2) in subsection (b)— 

9 (A) by striking ‘‘The amount’’ and insert10 ing ‘‘Except as provided in subsection (c), the 

11 amount’’; and 

12 (B) by striking ‘‘Act,’’ and all that follows 

13 through the period at the end and inserting 

14 ‘‘Act.’’; and 

15 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

16 ‘‘(c) PENALTY FOR SHELL CORPORATIONS.— 

17 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION OF SHELL CORPORATION.—In 

18 this subsection, the term ‘shell corporation’ means a 

19 corporation, company, association, firm, partnership, 

20 society, joint stock company, trust, estate, or any 

21 other legal entity that has no or nominal operations. 

22 ‘‘(2) AMOUNT OF PENALTY.—The amount of a 

23 civil penalty under subsection (a) for a foreign24 owned shell corporation, as determined by the Sec25 retary, shall be 100 percent of the fair market value, 

26 on the date of the assessment of the penalty, of the 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
3 

•HR 6469 IH

1 interest in agricultural land with respect to which 

2 the violation occurred. 

3 ‘‘(3) NONAPPLICATION OF PENALTY.—A shell 

4 corporation shall not be subject to a civil penalty 

5 under this section if the shell corporation remedies 

6 a defective filing or failure to file not later than 60 

7 days after the Secretary provides notice to the shell 

8 corporation of the defective filing or failure to file.’’. 

9 (b) INVESTIGATIVE ACTIONS.—Section 4 of the Agri10 cultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (7 

11 U.S.C. 3503) is amended— 

12 (1) by striking ‘‘The Secretary’’ and inserting 

13 the following: 

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

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

16 ‘‘(b) AUDIT.—The Secretary shall conduct an annual 

17 compliance audit of not less than 10 percent of the reports 

18 submitted under section 2 for the year covered by the 

19 audit to ensure the completeness and accuracy of reports 

20 submitted under that section. In conducting, such audit, 

21 the Secretary may consult with such other heads of such 

22 other Federal agencies as the Secretary determines appro23 priate. 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
4 

•HR 6469 IH

1 ‘‘(c) TRAINING.—The Secretary shall provide annual 

2 training to State and county-level personnel relating to 

3 identifying agricultural land for which— 

4 ‘‘(1) a report is required to be submitted under 

5 section 2; but 

6 ‘‘(2) no report has been submitted by the appli7 cable foreign person.’’. 

8 (c) REPORTS.—Section 6 of the Agricultural Foreign 

9 Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 3505) is 

10 amended— 

11 (1) by striking the section designation and 

12 heading and all that follows through ‘‘Not later 

13 than’’ and inserting the following: 

14 ‘‘SEC. 6. REPORTS. 

15 ‘‘(a) TO STATES.—Not later than’’; and 

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

17 ‘‘(b) TO CONGRESS.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

19 after the date of enactment of the Farmland Secu20 rity Act of 2023, and annually thereafter, the Sec21 retary shall submit to Congress a report describing 

22 the results of the research carried out under para23 graph (2). 

24 ‘‘(2) RESEARCH.—The Secretary shall carry out 

25 research on— 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
5 

•HR 6469 IH

1 ‘‘(A) the agricultural leasing activities in 

2 the United States of foreign persons, including 

3 the impact of those activities on family farms, 

4 rural communities, and the domestic food sup5 ply; 

6 ‘‘(B) trends relating to the purchase of ag7 ricultural land in the United States by foreign8 owned shell corporations; and 

9 ‘‘(C) foreign ownership of agricultural pro10 duction capacity and foreign participation in 

11 agricultural economic activity in the United 

12 States.’’. 

13 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—The Ag14 ricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (7 

15 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

16 the following: 

17 ‘‘SEC. 11. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

18 ‘‘There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec19 retary to carry out this Act $2,000,000 for each of fiscal 

20 years 2023 through 2028.’’. 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB