State Lawmaker Pitches Ban on Foreign Adversaries Buying Land near Military Bases

COLUMBUS – A state lawmaker on Tuesday urged his colleagues to back a plan aimed at keeping foreign adversaries from owning Ohio property within 25 miles of any military base or near critical infrastructure.

State Sen. Terry Johnson, a Republican from McDermott, testified to the House Economic and Workforce Development Committee that the change was needed to protect national security.

“I strongly believe that Ohio’s land should not be for sale to those who seek to destroy the American way of life,” Johnson said.

“This cannot be allowed to continue,” Johnson said. “Should enemies of our country be permitted to purchase land next to Wright-Patterson (Air Force Base) or over here at Rickenbacker (Air National Guard Base)? Our land is currently up for grabs by those who want to cause us harm, endangering our national secrets and most important, putting American lives at risk.”

Johnson’s legislation, S.B. 226, already passed the Senate. On Tuesday it had its first committee hearing in the House. State lawmakers are in the final stretch of a two-year session, a chaotic period when bills are often fast-tracked and combined with other legislation if they are to pass before the end of the year. Any bill that doesn’t pass this year must start over when the next session begins in January.

In addition to barring the purchase of land in Ohio by entities identified by the U.S. State Department as foreign adversaries, Johnson’s bill also would block businesses headquartered in those countries and citizens of those countries from buying Ohio property.

The prohibition would also include property near critical infrastructure, such as water supplies, electric substations, natural gas lines or rail facilities, Johnson said.

County auditors would be required to alert local sheriffs of such attempted purchases. After an investigation, a sheriff’s office would refer its findings to a county prosecutor for action.

Ohio law already has a prohibition on foreign entities buying farmland. That was adopted in the state operating budget approved in 2023.

The language about property near military facilities was included in the budget but vetoed by Gov. Mike DeWine. Johnson told the House committee the only reasoning he was given for the veto was included in the governor’s veto message, citing the possibility of unforeseen economic consequences.

“What I really want to do with this bill is bring to the attention of certainly, the legislature and the governor, but also the state of Ohio that we are under dire threat from people who want to see us gone from the face of the Earth,” Johnson said.

Earlier this year, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown backed federal legislation that would bolster existing law requiring non-citizens to disclose their acquisition, sale or ownership of agricultural land to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. At the time, the Ohio Farm Bureau estimated about 2.5% of Ohio farmland amounting to about 500,000 acres is owned by foreign entities.

Like Johnson, Brown, a Democrat who lost his reelection bid this month, said then that he was concerned about hostile foreign entities buying farmland near U.S. defense installations.

China may be the biggest threat, Johnson said. He complained that China will boldly purchase land and announce to an economically struggling community it plans to put in a factory with jobs. But the law now allows it to build that plant near military bases, compromising security.

“The average citizen cannot believe that we’re allowing Wright-Patterson to be so infringed upon,” Johnson said. “Is this perfect? No. But it’s a first step to saying we can’t just have foreign adversaries willy nilly spying on us.”

The Ohio Farm Bureau Federation on Tuesday endorsed Johnson’s legislation. The protections are needed, said Evan Callicoat, the Farm Bureau’s director of state policy, to preserve Ohio farmland.

“Land owned by foreign adversaries is only the latest threat to protecting farmland not just in Ohio, but across the country,” Callicoat said. Ohio has lost nearly 300,000 acres of farmland in the last five years, he said. Once used for something else, it generally never returns to be farmland.

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