Bill to ban foreign powers from buying KS land advances to house floor

TOPEKA (KSNT) - The Kansas Land and Military Installation Protection Act advances out of committee and moves to the house floor for debate.

The bill seeks to prevent 'countries of concern' - China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela - from buying Kansas land within 150 miles of military bases.

Supporters say the bill is an important step to addressing threats posed by adversarial nations.

"It's a major issue, our national security," Rep. Chris Croft (R) said. "We do have adversaries out there. They're very specifically defined and they have the intent of taking us out. And their way to do that is by not attacking us militarily direct, it's to take us out through our economy."

Opponents of the bill say they support the desire to protect the country, but believe that if enacted into the law, will have unintended consequences as it stands.

Rep. Rui Xu (D) of Westwood says his main concern with the bill is what it would mean for recent immigrants who own or are looking to open small businesses.

Under the bill, green card holding immigrants from countries of concern would be able to own land and businesses within the 150 mile radius; however, immigrants waiting for their green card would not.

"In a rush to do something, I'm just concerned about unintended consequences," Xu said. "Such as, in the bill there are exceptions for citizens and green card holders but there are a lot of immigrants here who don't yet have a green card but are on a legal path to get so."

Xu says he's optimistic an amendment can be made that will address this concern.