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Committee tightens foreign-adversary ownership limits, extends prohibition to mineral and water rights
Summary
SB 22 33 and related measures expand prohibitions on foreign-adversary ownership to include mineral and water rights, lower individual and aggregate ownership thresholds, and set a 60-day registration window; the committee passed the change and referred the measure to Agriculture and Energy.
Vice Chair Taylor presented SB 22 33 to expand existing restrictions on foreign adversaries acquiring property interests. The sponsor explained the bill widens the definition of covered property to include mineral rights and groundwater, lowers individual ownership thresholds from 33% to 10% and the aggregate threshold from 50% to 33%, and adds a 60-day compliance window for newly designated prohibited parties. "Basically, what that provision says is that no one individual or company that is a foreign adversary can own more than 10% of the property or the, mineral rights," the sponsor said.
Committee members asked whether a total prohibition might be preferable for critical minerals; the sponsor said the bill intentionally preserves limited ownership while preventing controlling interests that could threaten national security. The committee voted in favor and referred the bill to the Agriculture and Energy committee (9 ayes).
