Committee considers bill requiring affidavits for land purchases or leases near select defense and critical facilities

Sen. Regina Birdsell introduced Senate Bill 162 on Feb. 11, proposing a targeted restriction on foreign purchases or leases of land near New Hampshire defense and critical infrastructure. The bill would require a purchaser or lessee within 10 miles of designated facilities — including New Boston Space Force Station and the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard — to file an affidavit with the attorney general attesting that the buyer is not a foreign principal or an agent of a listed adversary nation.

Birdsell told the committee the measure is a narrowed successor to broader legislation considered last year; she said the new version reflects study-committee input and is limited to a small set of facilities identified as potential national-security concerns. "If you are a buyer of a property or leasing a property within 10 miles of these facilities, at the time of purchase or lease you will fill out an affidavit," Birdsell said.

Speakers from the U.S. Space Force, including David Dinwiddie, defense force director at New Boston Space Force Station, and Thaddeus Dickinson, insider-threat and antiterrorism program manager, urged the committee to advance the bill. "We certainly support this effort," Dinwiddie said, adding that the countries listed in the bill are ``countries of concern'' to their mission.

Chris Bond, an associate attorney general, told the committee the Department of Justice helped refine the draft. Bond said the prohibited-buyer definition was narrowed to reduce legal exposure and that the bill targets a short list of critical facilities to avoid the problems that have attended broader statutes elsewhere.

Realtors and brokers said they support protecting critical infrastructure but raised practical concerns about the bill's coverage of leases and the 10-mile radius. Chris Norwood of the New Hampshire Association of Realtors asked for mapping guidance and asked whether a tenant's refusal to sign the affidavit would create liability for real estate professionals. "If you look at a 10 mile ring around the so-called protected facilities, every building in Downtown Concord falls within that protected facility," Norwood said, urging the committee to clarify how leases and routine office or apartment tenancies would be handled.

The bill's sponsors said they will work with stakeholders and with the attorney general's office to clarify language, protect realtors from liability and ensure copies of unsigned forms are delivered to the AG's office so the department is alerted when a purchaser refuses to sign.

Why it matters: The bill aims to prevent foreign adversaries from obtaining or leasing property near a small set of state and federal facilities that witnesses identified as mission-essential. Support from Space Force leaders and legal counsel signals national-security rationale, while realtors' concerns reflect potential administrative and disclosure burdens for large urban areas within the 10-mile rings.

The hearing closed without a committee vote on Feb. 11.