King Introduce Legislation Protecting Ohio Land Sales from Foreign Adversarial Nations

COLUMBUS – State Representatives Angie King (R-Celina) and Roy Klopfenstein (R-Haviland) have recently introduced legislation to protect Ohio from the sale of land near critical infrastructure to foreign nations.

The Ohio Property Protection Act will prohibit a business that is directly or indirectly owned or controlled by a foreign adversarial nation from purchasing land within 25 miles of critical infrastructure and military installations in the State of Ohio.

“We are already seeing foreign adversaries trying to move into Ohio,” said King. “Fufeng USA, a Chinese based company, has already attempted to purchase land in Paulding County. This company has also attempted to purchase land just 15 miles away from Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota. The sale was denied because the assistant secretary of the Air Force labeled the sale a ‘significant threat to national security.’”

Ohio already has protections in place for the sale of agricultural land to foreign nations. The Ohio Property Protection Act will extend these same safeguards to land that isn’t agricultural and falls inside the 25-mile range of critical infrastructure and military installations. 

The legislation now awaits assignment to a House committee.