Committee gives HB 358 a favorable report, a bill requiring disclosure by companies with specified foreign ownership

The committee gave HB 358 a favorable report after lawmakers debated a substitute that changes the bill’s wording and clarifies its purpose. The substitute removes the term “hostile” from references to certain foreign-owned entities and adds a paragraph acknowledging that some companies operating in Alabama are owned or controlled by foreign principals while being managed by Alabama residents.

The sponsor said the measure is focused on transparency, not on banning commerce, and described the threshold that would trigger registration: if 20% of a company is owned by persons from any of four named countries, the entity would be subject to a registration process. "It is simply a transparency bill," the sponsor said, adding that the intent is to know who owns companies operating in the state.

Representative Springer offered the committee substitute and it was seconded. Committee members asked clarifying questions about which countries were included; during discussion the countries mentioned were Iran, Russia, China and North Korea. After debate, a member moved a favorable report, the motion was seconded and the committee approved the report.

The sponsor and other members emphasized that the bill would not prohibit business in Alabama or create an onerous registration burden, saying its purpose is to make ownership more transparent to the state. Committee members thanked the sponsor for the work to refine language and said the substitute aimed to avoid unnecessarily alarming employers while ensuring disclosure.

The committee’s favorable report advances HB 358 to the next legislative step; the committee did not record individual roll-call votes in the transcript for the committee report.