Sec. 12401. Amendments to the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978

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Section 2(a) of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 ( 7 U.S.C. 3501(a) ) is amended— in the first sentence of the matter preceding paragraph (1)— by inserting , or enters into a leasing agreement the period of which is longer than 5 years with respect to agricultural land, after agricultural land ; and by striking acquisition or transfer and inserting acquisition, transfer, or lease ; and in paragraph (4), by striking acquired or transferred and inserting acquired, transferred, or leased .

Section 2 of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 ( 7 U.S.C. 3501 ) is amended by adding at the end the following: In the case of agricultural land in which more than 1 foreign person acquires or transfers any interest, other than a security interest, the reporting requirements under this section shall apply to each foreign person who holds at least a 1 percent interest in that land— directly through the first tier of ownership; or in the aggregate through an interest in other entities at various tiers. .

Section 3 of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 ( 7 U.S.C. 3502 ) is amended— in subsection (a), in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking

(a)If the and all that follows through Any such civil penalty in the third sentence and inserting the following: A person shall be subject to a civil penalty imposed by the Secretary if the Secretary determines that the person— has failed to submit a report in accordance with the provisions of section 2; or has knowingly submitted a report under section 2 that— does not contain all the information required to be in such report; or contains information that is misleading or false. Any civil penalty imposed by the Secretary under subsection

(a); by moving subsection

(d)(as so designated) so as to appear after subsection (b); in subsection (b)— by striking the subsection designation and all that follows through The amount and inserting the following: Except as provided in subsection (c), the amount ; by striking of this section ; and by striking shall not exceed 25 percent and inserting shall be not less than 5 percent, but not more than 25 percent, ; by inserting after subsection

(b)the following: In this subsection, the term shell corporation means a corporation, company, association, firm, partnership, society, joint stock company, trust, estate, or any other legal entity that has no or nominal operations. The amount of a civil penalty under subsection

(a)for a foreign-owned shell corporation, as determined by the Secretary, shall be 100 percent of the fair market value, on the date of the assessment of the penalty, of the interest in agricultural land with respect to which the violation occurred. A shell corporation shall not be subject to a civil penalty under paragraph (2), but shall be subject to a civil penalty under subsection (b), if the shell corporation remedies a defective filing or failure to file not later than 60 days after the Secretary provides notice to the shell corporation of the defective filing or failure to file. ; and by adding at the end the following: A civil penalty collected under subsection

(a)shall be available to the Secretary without appropriation and remain available until expended for the purpose of enforcing this Act. . Section 3 of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 ( 7 U.S.C. 3502 ) (as amended by paragraph (1)) is amended by adding at the end the following: The Secretary shall publicly disclose the name of each person who paid to the Secretary a civil penalty imposed under subsection (a), including, if applicable, after the completion of an appeal of a civil penalty. . Section 3 of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 ( 7 U.S.C. 3502 ) (as amended by paragraph (2)) is amended by adding at the end the following: Using existing resources and efforts to the maximum extent practicable, the Secretary shall carry out a nationwide outreach program directed primarily towards landlords, owners, operators, persons, producers, and tenants (as those terms are defined in section 718.2 of title 7, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on the date of enactment of the Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act of 2024 )) of agricultural land and county property appraiser offices, land appraisal companies, and real estate auction companies to increase public awareness and provide education regarding the reporting requirements under this section. . Section 4 of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 ( 7 U.S.C. 3503 ) is amended— by striking the section designation and heading and all that follows through The Secretary and inserting the following: The Secretary ; and by adding at the end the following: The Secretary shall— in coordination with the office within the Department of Agriculture established under section 7318 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 ( 50 U.S.C. 3384 ), ensure the availability of classified storage, meeting, and other spaces, as necessary, for personnel to carry out this section; and assist personnel responsible for carrying out this section in obtaining security clearances. The Secretary shall appoint an employee in the Senior Executive Service (as described in section 3131 of title 5, United States Code) of the Department of Agriculture to serve as Chief of Operations of Investigative Actions (referred to in this section as the Chief of Operations ), who shall hire, appoint, and maintain additional employees to monitor compliance with the provisions of this Act. The Chief of Operations may serve in such position simultaneously with a concurrent position within the Department of Agriculture. The Chief of Operations shall— be responsible for carrying out the authority provided by subsection (a); refer noncompliance with this Act to the Secretary, the Farm Service Agency, and any other appropriate authority; coordinate with the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of the Treasury, the National Security Council, and State and local law enforcement agencies, on investigations into malign efforts— to steal agricultural knowledge and technology; and to disrupt the United States agricultural base; conduct an annual compliance audit of not less than 10 percent of the reports submitted under section 2 for the year covered by the audit to ensure the completeness and accuracy of reports submitted under that section; provide annual training to State and county-level personnel relating to identifying agricultural land for which— a report is required to be submitted under section 2; but no report has been submitted by the applicable foreign person; seek to enter into memoranda of agreement and memoranda of understanding with the Federal agencies described in paragraph (3)— to ensure compliance with this Act; and to prevent the malign efforts described in that paragraph; refer to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States transactions that— raise potential national security concerns; and result in agricultural land acquisition by a foreign person that is a citizen of, or headquartered in, as applicable, a foreign entity of concern; coordinate and consult, as appropriate, with the Department of Agriculture Office of Homeland Security and the office within the Department of Agriculture established under section 7318 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 ( 50 U.S.C. 3384 ); and publish annual reports that summarize the information contained in every report received by the Secretary under section 2 during the period covered by the report. The Chief of Operations shall report to— the Secretary; or if delegated by the Secretary, to— the Administrator of the Farm Service Agency; or the Director of the Department of Agriculture Office of Homeland Security. As part of the actions taken under subsection (a), the Farm Production and Conservation Business Center shall— take such actions as are necessary to validate the data collected under section 2, including revising and validating information throughout the data collection process; take such actions as are necessary to ensure compliance with section 2(g); and in coordination with the Farm Service Agency, to the maximum extent practicable, identify persons that have carried out an activity subject to a civil penalty described in paragraph

(1)or

(2)of section 3(a). . Section 6 of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 ( 7 U.S.C. 3505 ) is amended— by striking the section designation and heading and all that follows through Not later than and inserting the following: Not later than ; and by adding at the end the following: Annually, the Secretary shall prepare and make publicly available a report describing holdings of agricultural land by foreign persons, as determined by reports submitted under section 2, including— on a State-by-State and county-by-county basis; and an analysis of the sectors and industries for which the agricultural land holdings are used. Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this subsection, and once every 5 years thereafter, the Secretary shall— carry out research on— the agricultural leasing activities in the United States of foreign persons, including the impact of those activities on family farms, rural communities, and the domestic food supply; trends relating to the purchase of agricultural land in the United States by foreign-owned shell corporations (as defined in section 3(c)(1)); foreign ownership of agricultural production capacity and foreign participation in agricultural economic activity in the United States; and in consultation with the Director of the United States Geological Survey, foreign ownership or leasing of water rights and mineral deposits on a State-by-State and county-by-county basis; and submit to Congress a report describing the results of the research carried out under paragraph (1). Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this subsection, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on the feasibility of establishing a mechanism for quantifying the threats posed by foreign entities of concern to United States food security, biosecurity, food safety, environmental protection, and national defense. . Section 7 of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 ( 7 U.S.C. 3506 ) is amended— by striking the section designation and heading and all that follows through Any report and inserting the following: Any report ; and by adding at the end the following: As soon as practicable after the Secretary has established a streamlined process for electronic submission and retention of disclosures made under this Act required by section 773 of division A of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 ( 7 U.S.C. 3501 note; 136 Stat. 4509), the Secretary shall make publicly available an internet database that contains disaggregated data from each disclosure submitted under this Act as human-readable and machine-readable data sets. The data sets established under paragraph

(1)shall include— a description of the purchase price paid for, or any other consideration given for, each interest in agricultural land for which a report is submitted under section 2; and in any case in which a foreign person is not an individual or a government, the nature of the legal entity holding the interest, the country in which the foreign person is created or organized, and the principal place of business of the foreign person. . Section 9 of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 ( 7 U.S.C. 3508 ) is amended— in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking For purposes of this Act— and inserting In this Act: ; in paragraph (1), by inserting , subject to the condition that the Secretary may not exclude land from this definition based on the acreage of the land before the semicolon at the end; in each of paragraphs

(1)through (6)— by striking the term and inserting The term ; and by inserting a paragraph heading, the text of which comprises the term defined in that paragraph; by redesignating paragraphs

(2)through

(6)as paragraphs (3), (4), (6), (7), and (8), respectively; by inserting after paragraph

(1)the following: The term foreign entity of concern has the meaning given the term in section 9901 of the William M.

(Mac)Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 ( 15 U.S.C. 4651 ). ; and by inserting after paragraph

(4)(as so redesignated) the following: The term malign effort means any hostile effort undertaken by, at the direction of, on behalf of, or with the substantial support of the government of a foreign entity of concern. .

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