Senate File 2204 - Enrolled
Senate File 2204
AN ACT
RELATING TO INTERESTS IN AGRICULTURAL LAND ACQUIRED OR HELD
BY FOREIGN BUSINESSES, FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS, OR NONRESIDENT
ALIENS, OR BY AGENTS, TRUSTEES, OR FIDUCIARIES THEREOF,
BY PROVIDING FOR REGISTRATION AND REPORTING REQUIREMENTS,
PROVIDING FOR ENFORCEMENT, AND PROVIDING PENALTIES.
7 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
1 Section 1. Section 9I.1, Code 2024, is amended by adding the
2 following new subsections:
3 NEW SUBSECTION. 4A. “Interest” means any estate, remainder,
4 or reversion, or portion of the estate, remainder, or
5 reversion, or an option pursuant to which one party has a right
6 to cause legal or equitable title to agricultural land to be
7 transferred.
8 NEW SUBSECTION. 4B. “Intermediary” means any person,
9 including a bank, broker, or dealer, that makes business or
10 financial arrangements between companies or organizations that
11 do not deal with each other directly.
12 NEW SUBSECTION. 6. “Parent” means any corporation which
13 directly, or indirectly through one or more intermediaries,
14 controls more than fifty percent of the voting stock of another
15 corporation.
16 Sec. 2. Section 9I.7, Code 2024, is amended to read as
17 follows:
18 9I.7 Registration.
19 A nonresident alien, foreign business, or foreign
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20 government, or an agent, trustee, or fiduciary thereof, which
21 owns an interest in agricultural land within this state on or
22 after January 1, 1980, shall register the agricultural land
23 with the secretary of state. The registration shall be made
24 within sixty days after January 1, 1980, or within sixty days
25 after acquiring the land or the interest in land, whichever
26 time is the later. The registration shall be made online or
27 in the form and manner prescribed by the secretary and shall
28 contain the name of the owner and the location and number of
29 acres of the agricultural land by township and county of state.
30 If the owner of the agricultural land or owner of the interest
31 in agricultural land is an agent, trustee or fiduciary of a
32 nonresident alien, foreign business or foreign government,
33 the registration shall also include the name of any principal
34 for whom that land, or interest in that land was purchased as
35 agent. Information described in this section is a confidential
1 record and subject to use in the same manner as provided in
2 section 10B.5. As part of the registration, the nonresident
3 alien, foreign business, or foreign government, or an agent,
4 trustee, or fiduciary thereof, shall file all of the following
5 information:
6 1. The legal name, street address, mailing address,
7 if different, and the birthplace and nationality of the
8 nonresident alien, foreign business, or foreign government that
9 owns the interest in the agricultural land.
10 2. The legal name, street address, mailing address,
11 if different, and the birthplace and nationality of the
12 agent, trustee, or fiduciary of the nonresident alien,
13 foreign business, or foreign government in subsection 1, if
14 specifically authorized to do any of the following:
15 a. Purchase the agricultural land.
16 b. Supervise the daily operations on the agricultural land.
17 3. A statement of the purpose for conducting business in
18 this state.
19 4. A description of the purpose of the interest in the
20 agricultural land in this state as it relates to the stated
21 business purpose in subsection 3.
22 5. The legal name, street address, and mailing address
23 of any parent of the registering party, including the legal
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24 name, street address, and mailing address of any subsidiary or
25 intermediary of the parent.
26 6. The legal name, street address, and mailing address of
27 any subsidiary of the registering party.
28 7. A listing of all other interests in agricultural land
29 that are held directly or indirectly by the registering party,
30 parent of the registering party, or subsidiary or intermediary
31 of the parent in the United States that exceeds two hundred
32 fifty acres.
33 Sec. 3. Section 9I.10, subsection 1, Code 2024, is amended
34 to read as follows:
35 1. If the secretary of state finds that a nonresident alien,
1 foreign business, foreign government, or an agent, trustee,
2 or other fiduciary thereof, has acquired or holds title to or
3 interest in agricultural land in this state in violation of
4 this chapter or has failed to timely register as required under
5 section 9I.7 or has failed to timely report as required under
6 section 9I.8 10B.4, the secretary shall report the violation
7 to the attorney general.
8 Sec. 4. Section 9I.10, Code 2024, is amended by adding the
9 following new subsection:
10 NEW SUBSECTION. 4. The attorney general may conduct an
11 inquiry or investigation regarding a violation of this chapter
12 or section 10B.4. As part of that inquiry or investigation,
13 and in accordance with the Iowa rules of civil procedure, the
14 attorney general may issue a subpoena for the production of
15 records, including but not limited to books, accounts, papers,
16 correspondence, memoranda, purchase agreements, files, or other
17 documents in a print or electronic format. If a person refuses
18 compliance, the attorney general may seek enforcement by the
19 district court.
20 Sec. 5. Section 9I.12, Code 2024, is amended to read as
21 follows:
22 9I.12 Penalty —— failure to timely file.
23 A civil penalty of not more than two thousand dollars to
24 exceed twenty-five percent of the county’s assessed value of
25 the subject agricultural land for the previous year shall be
26 imposed, for each offense, upon a nonresident alien, foreign
27 business, or foreign government, or an agent, trustee, or other
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28 fiduciary thereof, who fails to timely file the registration as
29 required by section 9I.7, or who fails to timely file a report
30 required by section 9I.8.
31 Sec. 6. Section 10B.4, subsection 1, Code 2024, is amended
32 to read as follows:
33 1. A biennial report shall be filed by a reporting entity
34 with the secretary of state on or before March 31 of each
35 odd-numbered year as required by rules adopted by the secretary
1 of state pursuant to chapter 17A. However, a reporting entity
2 required to file a biennial report pursuant to chapter 489,
3 490, 496C, 497, 498, 499, 501, 501A, or 504 shall file the
4 report required by this section in the same year as required
5 by that chapter. The reporting entity may file the report
6 required by this section together with the biennial report
7 required to be filed by one of the other chapters referred to
8 in this subsection. The reports shall be filed online or on
9 forms prepared and supplied by the secretary of state. The
10 secretary of state may provide for combining its reporting
11 forms with other biennial reporting forms required to be used
12 by the reporting entities.
13 Sec. 7. Section 10B.4, subsection 2, unnumbered paragraph
14 1, Code 2024, is amended to read as follows:
15 A report required pursuant to this section shall contain
16 information for the reporting period regarding the reporting
17 entity as required by the secretary of state which shall at
18 least include any updates to the information provided in the
19 registration to the secretary of state in section 9I.7 and all
20 of the following:
21 Sec. 8. Section 10B.4, Code 2024, is amended by adding the
22 following new subsection:
23 NEW SUBSECTION. 4. The attorney general may conduct an
24 inquiry or investigation regarding a violation of this section
25 as provided in section 9I.10.
26 Sec. 9. Section 10B.4A, Code 2024, is amended to read as
27 follows:
28 10B.4A Suspension of other filing requirements.
29 The secretary of state shall not prepare or distribute forms
30 for reports or file reports otherwise required pursuant to
31 section 9I.8 or 501.103. A person required to file a report
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32 pursuant to this chapter is not required to file a report under
33 those sections section 501.103. A person required to file a
34 report pursuant to this chapter is not required to register
35 with the secretary of state as otherwise required in section
1 9I.7.
2 Sec. 10. NEW SECTION. 10B.5A Annual summary to governor and
3 general assembly.
4 The secretary of state shall prepare an annual summary of
5 foreign landholding. The summary must be a report summarizing
6 the compiled information included in the current registrations
7 filed pursuant to section 9I.7 and the last reports filed
8 pursuant to section 10B.4. The information is a confidential
9 record as provided in section 22.7. The attorney general may
10 have access to the annual summary and may use information
11 in the annual summary in any action to enforce state law,
12 including but not limited to chapters 9H and 9I, and this
13 chapter. The annual summary shall be made available to the
14 governor, members of the general assembly, and appropriate
15 committees of the general assembly in order to determine the
16 extent that agricultural land is held in this state by foreign
17 entities and the effect of such land ownership upon the economy
18 of this state. Upon request, the secretary of state shall
19 assist any committee of the general assembly studying these
20 issues.
21 Sec. 11. Section 10B.6, subsection 1, Code 2024, is amended
22 to read as follows:
23 1. a. The Except as provided in paragraph “b”, the failure
24 to timely file a report or the filing of false information in a
25 report as provided in section 10B.4 is punishable by a civil
26 penalty not to exceed one thousand dollars.
27 b. The failure to file a report or the filing of false
28 information in a report by a nonresident alien, foreign
29 business, or foreign government, or an agent, trustee, or other
30 fiduciary thereof as provided in section 10B.4 is punishable by
31 a civil penalty of up to ten thousand dollars for each offense.
32 Sec. 12. REPEAL. Section 9I.8, Code 2024, is repealed.
33 Sec. 13. REGISTRATION REQUIREMENT. A nonresident alien,
34 foreign business, or foreign government, or an agent, trustee,
35 or fiduciary thereof, that currently owns an interest in
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1 agricultural land must update their registration with the
2 secretary of state’s office to comply with the requirements of
3 section 9I.7, as amended by this Act, within one hundred eighty
4 days of the effective date of this Act.
______________________________ ______________________________
AMY SINCLAIR PAT GRASSLEY
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that this bill originated in the Senate and
is known as Senate File 2204, Ninetieth General Assembly.
______________________________
W. CHARLES SMITHSON
Secretary of the Senate
Approved _______________, 2024 ______________________________
KIM REYNOLDS
Governor


Statutes affected:
Introduced: 9I.1, 9I.7, 9I.10, 9I.12, 10B.4, 10B.4A, 9I.8
Enrolled: 9I.1, 9I.7, 9I.10, 9I.12, 10B.4, 10B.4A, 9I.8