Senate passes Alabama Property Protection Act, bill moves to House with proposed changes
The Alabama Senate passed HB 379 Thursday afternoon, a bill also known as the Alabama Property Protection Act. Some amendments were made to the bill before it was passed by the state senate and it now goes back to the state house of representatives to be considered before it can move to Gov. Kay Ivey’s desk.
The bill was introduced earlier this month with a focus on Chinese government and citizens buying property in the state. State House Majority Leader Scott Stadthagen introduced the bill as a move to ban the Chinese government, Chinese entities, and non-resident citizens of China from buying real estate property in Alabama.
READ MORE: State bill would ban Chinese government from buying real property in Alabama
The language of the bill was changed during its time in the Senate. The language around China was removed from the bill and now focuses on a larger group of countries considered to be “foreign countries of concern.” That list of countries is established by the federal government and includes China, Iran, North Korea and Russia.
“The Alabama Property Protection Act includes agricultural and forest property, chemical manufacturing, refineries, electric energy producing facilities, water treatment/wastewater treatment plants, liquid natural gas terminals, telecommunication central switching offices, gas processing plants, seaport facilities, aerospace or spaceport infrastructure, airports, military installations, and real property defined as land, buildings, fixtures, and other improvements to land,” the state’s Republican Party said in a release Thursday afternoon.
The bill would protect companies in Alabama and individuals who came to the country to work. Anyone born in the United States would not be included in the group of people banned from buying property. Supporters of the bill claim it will protect agriculture and military bases.
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According to the release from the Republicans, the bill is aimed at prohibiting “governments, governmental entities, and foreign principals domiciled in certain foreign countries identified on a federal sanctions list of the Office of Foreign Assets Control from acquiring agricultural, forest property, and real property within 10 miles of any military installation or critical infrastructure facility in the state.”
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