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SACRAMENTO, Calif.— Senator Steven Choi, Ph.D. (R–Irvine) has introduced Senate Bill 1176, legislation to prohibit adversarial foreign actors from purchasing, acquiring, leasing, or holding a controlling interest in California agricultural land.
SB 1176 adds Chapter 5 to the Civil Code to restrict ownership by businesses or governments from countries designated as nonmarket economies under federal law or identified as national security threats in the most recent Annual Threat Assessment issued by the U.S. Director of National Intelligence. Such entities would be barred from holding a controlling interest in California agricultural land. The measure authorizes the Attorney General to investigate violations and order divestiture within 90 days, subject to judicial review.
A January 2025 U.S. Department of Agriculture report found that foreign entities owned more than 46 million acres of U.S. agricultural land in 2024, including 1,357,750 acres in California, with over 18 percent held by countries identified as national security threats.
“In an era of rising geopolitical tension, California must act to protect its agricultural land and critical infrastructure from adversarial control,” said Senator Choi. “This bill ensures that our farmland remains under the control of the United States and its allies.”
The bill would become operative January 1st, 2027, and upon legislative appropriation.