House passes the Farmland and Military Protection Act

On June 30, the North Carolina House of Representatives passed the NC Farmland and Military Protection Act (HB 133), 111-2. The bill now sits on Gov. Josh Stein’s desk. 

HB 133 prohibits the acquisition of agricultural lands and other sensitive land, including land within a 50-mile radius around military installations, by foreign governments deemed adversarial by the US Department of State. Nations prohibited are tied to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, which the federal government updates. 

The House passed the legislation in a concurrence vote following several months of collaboration, as both the House and Senate had originated their own versions of the legislation. 

State Sen. Bob Brinson, R-Craven, a retired Army aviator who authored SB 394, worked with Rep. Jennifer Balkcom, R-Henderson, who authored HB 133, to combine the two bills. 

“This bill is about protecting our food production and force protection for our military bases,” said Brinson, on the Senate floor on June 23, before the bill passed in the Senate. “Over the last 16 months, both HB 133 and its companion, SB 394,  have been thoroughly vetted through the committees of both chambers. So now it’s time to send one of them to the governor to become a statute of North Carolina.” 

In a May 12 meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sens. Sophia Chitlik, D-Durham; and Lisa Grafstein, D-Wake, raised concerns that the 50-mile radius could incentivize legitimate economic actors to go out of state for their needs, implying that the radius could be reduced to a 5-10-mile radius, similar to states like Montana and Florida. 

The original Senate Bill had a 25-mile radius, while the House Bill had a 75-mile radius, so the chambers compromised on a 50-mile radius, according to Brinson.

“At what cost to our national security do we protect our economy and growth?” said Brinson during the committee meeting. “I think there is enough growth in the state of North Carolina that I am not concerned about foreign entities and allowing foreign entities to come. This is not just areas around military bases, but this is our agricultural farmland as well. Food security is national security for me.”

North Carolina is the fourth-fastest-growing state in the nation and the first in in-migration, according to Brinson. 

“We are a great state based on the policies we have in place, so excluding countries that are on this list that are a threat to our nation, I’m not concerned about their growth or the jobs that they bring to the state of North Carolina, because we don’t need them,” said Brinson, on May 12. 

During the committee meeting, Balkcom emphasized that foreign adversaries subject to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations are bad actors and that adhering to this list protects the state of North Carolina from them.  

“House passes the Farmland and Military Protection Act” was originally published on www.carolinajournal.com.