A bill to stop the Chinese ownership of land within the Yellowhammer State has been filed by House Majority Leader Scott Stadthagen.
The Alabama Property Protection Act, or HB379 as it is known, will protect the state’s agricultural interests and military facilities from Chinese ownership and interference, according to Stadthagen (R-Hartselle).
“I don’t believe we should allow buyers from communist China to purchase Alabama land and resources to use for their purposes,” he said. “Our agricultural and manufacturing resources are critical to the success of our state and our nation. We are also home to multiple military installations and soon be home to Space Command.
“This bill ensures that those facilities, those resources and those installations will not be neighbors with the CCP.”
The newly filed bill is similar to the “Not one More Inch or Acre” Act that has been introduced on a national level by U.S. Sens. Katie Britt (R-Montgomery) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.).
Stadthagen commented on Britt’s effort in introducing the legislation in the U.S. Senate, while also explaining his proposed bill more fully.
“Senator Britt is tackling this issue on the federal level but we need an Alabama solution as well,” he said. “That is what this legislation does. It allows us to protect property within the boundaries of our state.”
He also said the problem needs to be handled promptly and that the legislation will be backed by Democrats and Republicans.
“This is an issue we need to address now. There is no reason to wait until we have a major problem before us to address it,” Stadthagen said. “This is something that Alabamians want and something our state needs. I believe this bill will have strong bipartisan support.”
The National Association of Realtors recently released a report showing Chinese buyers purchased $6.1 billion of American real estate from April 2021 to March 2022.
Austen Shipley is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News.
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