Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Farmland Security Act of 2023”.
Farmland Security Act of 2023
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.
Sec. 2 Improving agricultural foreign investment disclosure
Civil penalty— Section 3 of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 3502) is amended—
in subsection (a), by striking the second sentence;
in subsection (b)—
by striking “The amount” and inserting “Except as provided in subsection (c), the amount”; and
by striking “Act,” and all that follows through the period at the end and inserting “Act.”; and
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.”
Investigative actions— Section 4 of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 3503) is amended—
by striking “The Secretary” and inserting the following:
“(a) In general—The Secretary”
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 appropriate.
“(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.”
Reports— Section 6 of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 3505) is amended—
by striking the section designation and heading and all that follows through “Not later than” and inserting the following:
“6. Reports
“(a) To States—Not later than”
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 2023, 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.”
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:
“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 2023 through 2028.”