SB 224

  • California Senate Bill
  • 2023-2024 Regular Session
  • Introduced in Senate Jan 19, 2023
  • Senate
  • Assembly
  • Governor

Agricultural land: foreign ownership and interests: foreign governments.

Abstract

Existing law provides that all property has an owner, whether that owner is the state, and the property is public, or the owner is an individual, and the property is private. Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, establishes the Office of Emergency Services, which is responsible for the state's emergency and disaster response services for natural, technological, or man-made disasters and emergencies, among other duties. This bill would prohibit a foreign government from purchasing, acquiring, leasing, or holding a controlling interest, as defined, in agricultural land within the State of California. The bill would exempt land held by foreign governments before January 1, 2024, from that prohibition. The bill would provide that land transferred in violation of these provisions would be subject to divestiture, as specified. Existing federal law requires any foreign person, defined to include foreign governments, who acquires or transfers any interest, other than a security interest, in agricultural land to submit to the United States Secretary of Agriculture a report containing specified information relating to, among other things, the type of interest the foreign person acquired or transferred and their legal name, address, and citizenship or country in which they are created or organized. Existing federal law requires the secretary every 6 months to transmit to each state department of agriculture a copy of each report that was submitted to the secretary in the most recent 6-month period and that involved agricultural land located in that state. This bill would require the Office of Emergency Services, in consultation with the appropriate boards or departments and based on the above-described reports from the United States Secretary of Agriculture, and other information the office deems appropriate, to compile an annual report containing, among other information, the total amount of agricultural land that is under foreign ownership, how that land is currently being put to use, and any legislative, regulatory, or administrative policy recommendations in light of the information from the annual report. The bill would require the office to publish the inaugural annual report on its website by December 31, 2024, and by March 31 every year thereafter. The bill would require the office to deliver copies of any recommendations for legislative policy changes contained in the report to the Governor and the Assembly and Senate Committees on Agriculture. The bill would require the office to be reimbursed for costs incurred for compiling data, printing, and mailing the report, as specified. The bill would make its provisions operative upon appropriation by the Legislature. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Bill Sponsors (11)

Votes


Actions


Feb 01, 2024

Senate

Returned to Secretary of Senate pursuant to Joint Rule 56.

May 18, 2023

Senate

May 18 hearing: Held in committee and under submission.

May 12, 2023

Senate

Set for hearing May 18.

May 01, 2023

Senate

May 1 hearing: Placed on APPR suspense file.

Apr 26, 2023

Senate

Set for hearing May 1.

Apr 24, 2023

Senate

From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 3. Noes 0. Page 853.) (April 24). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

  • Committee-Passage
  • Committee-Passage-Favorable
  • Referral-Committee
Com. on APPR.

Apr 18, 2023

Senate

Set for hearing April 24.

Apr 13, 2023

Senate

Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on AGRI.

  • Amendment-Passage
  • Reading-1
  • Reading-2
  • Referral-Committee
Com. on AGRI.

Apr 12, 2023

Senate

From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on AGRI. (Ayes 6. Noes 2. Page 685.) (April 11).

Apr 03, 2023

Senate

Set for hearing April 11.

Mar 21, 2023

Senate

March 28 hearing postponed by committee.

Mar 20, 2023

Senate

From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD.

  • Amendment-Passage
  • Committee-Passage
  • Reading-1
  • Reading-2
  • Referral-Committee
Com. on JUD.

Mar 07, 2023

Senate

Set for hearing March 28.

Feb 01, 2023

Senate

Referred to Coms. on JUD. and AGRI.

  • Referral-Committee
Coms. on JUD. and AGRI.

Jan 20, 2023

Senate

From printer. May be acted upon on or after February 19.

Jan 19, 2023

Senate

Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.

Bill Text

Bill Text Versions Format
SB224 HTML
01/19/23 - Introduced PDF
03/20/23 - Amended Senate PDF
04/13/23 - Amended Senate PDF

Related Documents

Document Format
04/07/23- Senate Judiciary PDF
04/21/23- Senate Agriculture PDF
04/28/23- Senate Appropriations PDF

Sources

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