North Dakota’s House has again passed a measure designed to try and prevent a foreign county identified as an “adversary” from owning land in the state.
The bill was prompted by Fufeng’s purchase of land in Grand Forks for a corn milling project. The plan was halted because of Air Force objections over Fufeng’s ties to China and the project’s proximity to the Grand Forks Air Force Base.
Velva Republican Rep. Paul Thomas told the House the bill will allow the Attorney General’s office to review documents filed with the Secretary of State for the sale of the land. The measure includes a study of the issue.
Thomas asked: “How is our state going to work with our federal government and our national security interests to be able to potentially flag a business or an individual that would look to come to our state that would be a negative security interest?”
Opponents of the bill argued that the flap over Fufeng was driven by some Grand Forks residents who were mad because the proposed plant would drive up their property tax bills.
Wahpeton Republican Rep. Cynthia Schreiber Beck called the measure premature.
“This bill does not solve or does not even help the situation, and if we need to do a study, I think we can tack it on to OMB (Office of Management and Budget),” Schreiber Beck said. “But I’ve been the only dissenter on this and I will continue to be, because we are putting North Dakota on the world stage, and the national stage is pretty much not open for business. And I think we’ll have deep economic issues as a result of this.”
The bill – Senate Bill 2371 – passed the House 83-to-8 today (Wed). It had already passed the Senate, with conference committee amendments.
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(KNOX / ND PPR)
