Arkansas lawmaker proposes tighter limits on foreign-held farmland near critical infrastructure; debate raises dual-citizenship concerns

Representative Dean Vaught introduced House Bill 16-80 in the House committee to tighten restrictions on foreign ownership of Arkansas agricultural land, saying the state has seen a large increase in acreage held by overseas entities. "Foreign entities owned 1,597,000 acres of agriculture land in Arkansas," Vaught said, citing the most recent USDA Farm Service Agency report.

The bill would amend 2023 legislation (Act 636) to ban Chinese Communist Party–linked companies from holding any interest in agricultural land within a 10-mile radius of defined critical infrastructure and to bar prohibited foreign-party-controlled businesses from leasing land in the state. It would also shorten the divestment period for prohibited foreign-party-controlled businesses from two years to one year and expand the definition of agricultural land to include property inside municipal limits. "You can find the definition for critical infrastructure on page 2 of the bill lines 5 through 22," Vaught told the committee.

Proponents and sponsors framed the measure as responding to national-security and economic concerns. Vaught said foreign ownership can raise questions about transfers of agricultural technology, upward pressure on land prices, and the location of holdings near military bases or electrical substations. He pointed to prior Arkansas enforcement actions: the Department of Agriculture referred several matters to the attorney general in 2023, including an investigation that led a Chinese-owned company to divest a 60-acre parcel and pay a fine for failing to file required paperwork.

Russell Thomas, a Hot Springs resident who said members of his family hold dual U.S.-Russian citizenship, told the committee the bill's language risks harming U.S. citizens with dual nationality. "This means my family, along with tens of thousands of others ... could face foreclosure on their properties we rightfully own and have invested our entire life savings into," Thomas said. He urged the committee to add exemptions and affirmative defenses for U.S. citizens, including naturalized and dual citizens.

West Ward of the Arkansas Department of Agriculture responded that the department does not intend the bill to affect U.S. citizens' property rights. "The largest ownership is Canada and The Netherlands are the 2 biggest," Ward said when asked about the countries that own Arkansas land, and later said the department does not understand the bill to strip property rights from U.S. citizens.

Committee members and the testifiers discussed how the existing statutory framework interacts with the bill. Witnesses and legislators referenced the federal Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 and prior Arkansas acts that require foreign owners to file AFIDA reports with state agencies and impose penalties for noncompliance. Members noted that the 2023 statute expanded prohibitions in state law and that this bill would broaden those restrictions further.

After extended questioning and public comment, the bill's sponsor said he would be willing to pull the bill to allow time to draft an amendment addressing the dual-citizenship concern. "With the committee's promotion, I can pull it down because that's not the intent," Vaught said. The transcript does not record a final committee vote on HB 16-80.

The immediate next steps were left open: the sponsor offered to withdraw the bill from consideration to pursue language changes; no committee final action was recorded in the meeting transcript.