Reps. Green, Hageman to Refile Bill Stopping Future Natural Asset Companies
Reps. Mark Green (TN-07) and Harriet Hageman (WY-AL) will reintroduced the Protect America’s Lands Act on Wednesday to prevent the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from implementing rules that would allow Natural Asset Companies (NACs) to list their assets on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Last session, Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming introduced a companion bill in the Senate.
On October 4, 2023, the SEC issued notice of a proposed rule change to allow the NYSE to list NACs as public companies that could have control over national parks, federal land, and even private land. Although this rule was withdrawn in January of 2024, the intent still poses a threat to American finances and investor security.
Green said: “Publicly listing NACs would allow foreign investors to monetize and control America’s natural resources. This could create a dangerous situation in which our nation’s natural resources are owned by mystery investors who can unilaterally stop activities like mining and logging on America’s land…forever.”
Hageman said: “NACs would change U.S. land access, management, use, and ownership as we know it. As if that weren’t bad enough, as proposed, there are no limits placed on who can buy these lands—China, Russia, Iran, and other bad actors would be free to participate and shut down U.S. energy, mineral and food production.”
Learn more about Natural Assets here.
Senator Tuberville Refiles Legislation to Secure America’s Farmland
In the Senate, Tommy Tuberville, along with John Fetterman (D-PA) reintroduced The Foreign Adversary Risk Management (FARM) Act amending the Defense Production Act of 1950 to prevent harm and disruption to the United States agriculture industry by protecting against foreign influence over agriculture production and supply chains and to add the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States (CFIUS).
Specifically, this bill addresses the surge of foreign ownership of American farmland. The two Senators are concerned about national security issues with China buying farmland around critical military bases and our food supply.
Sen. Tubberville stated: “Food security is national security, and we cannot allow our adversaries to have a foot in the door to our critical supply chains. As Alabama’s voice on the Senate Ag Committee, I will keep fighting to secure our ag supply chains so that our agriculture community can continue to put food on the table for American families.”
Sen. Fetterman said: “America’s farms are critical infrastructure, and CFIUS exists to protect our critical infrastructure from foreign threats. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: foreign adversaries have no business owning American farmland.”
