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 Da-
kota) 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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Farmland Security Act 
of 2023’’. 
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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 insert-
ing ‘‘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 Sec-
retary, shall be 100 percent of the fair market value, 
on the date of the assessment of the penalty, of the 
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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 Agri-
cultural 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. In conducting, such audit, 
the Secretary may consult with such other heads of such 
other Federal agencies as the Secretary determines appro-
priate. 
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‘‘(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 appli-
cable 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 Secu-
rity Act of 2023, and annually thereafter, the Sec-
retary shall submit to Congress a report describing 
the results of the research carried out under para-
graph (2). 
‘‘(2) RESEARCH.—The Secretary shall carry out 
research on— 
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‘‘(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 sup-
ply; 
‘‘(B) trends relating to the purchase of ag-
ricultural land in the United States by foreign- 
owned shell corporations; and 
‘‘(C) foreign ownership of agricultural pro-
duction capacity and foreign participation in 
agricultural economic activity in the United 
States.’’. 
(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—The Ag-
ricultural 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 Sec-
retary to carry out this Act $2,000,000 for each of fiscal 
years 2023 through 2028.’’. 
Æ 
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