More Details on Bill to Ban Foreign-Owned Land in Montana

Earlier this week we told you about a bill introduced in the Montana Legislature to ban foreign-owned land. This, as the Communist Chinese have reportedly been buying land near our nuclear missile silos, and ranching organizations have expressed concerns about how foreign-owned land can drive up prices for local families.

State Senator Ken Bogner (R-Miles City) introduced Senate Bill 203 on Friday. That bill will now face it's first hearing in the Senate Ag Committee on Thursday.

Bogner told Aaron Flint on the statewide radio talk show- Montana Talks- that his bill is similar to legislation proposed in Texas that would ban land ownership by other countries in addition to the Communist Chinese.

Sen. Bogner: Senate Bill 203, which prohibits the sale of both critical infrastructure and ag production land to foreign adversaries. Foreign adversaries are defined by the Secretary of Commerce as China, North Korea, Russia, and Iran. So I'm excited to introduce that and have the hearing Thursday afternoon in Senate Ag to make sure that we prevent these foreign adversaries from buying up our ag land here in Montana.

Food security is national security.

Sen. Bogner: I'd actually gotten the idea for critical infrastructure from Texas. They had passed that legislation a couple years ago. And I thought- oh, that's great. But we need to add ag production land on top of critical infrastructure. Because if you think about it, our ag land is critical infrastructure. T hat is so critical to Montana. It is such a big part of our economy, and it feeds the nation. So it's not just ag land, it's part of our infrastructure.

To find out who the Senate Ag Committee members are, and how to contact them- go to Leg.MT.gov.

By the way, I got a note from Jeff Pattison in Valley, County. He tells me that Valley County Farm Bureau passed a foreign ownership resolution in July, and it passed at the state convention.