Assembly Bill 30 aims to strengthen restrictions on land ownership in Wisconsin by prohibiting foreign adversaries from acquiring agricultural or forestry land. The bill defines a "foreign adversary" as a foreign government or individual identified by the federal secretary of commerce as having engaged in conduct harmful to U.S. national security. It retains the existing limitation on foreign persons, which allows them to own no more than 640 acres of land for agricultural or forestry purposes, while adding a new provision that completely bars foreign adversaries from acquiring any land for these purposes.

The bill includes several amendments to existing statutes, such as renumbering and amending sections related to land ownership limitations. Notably, it creates a new section that explicitly prohibits foreign adversaries from acquiring land and clarifies that interests in land acquired by these entities after a specified date will be subject to divestiture or forfeiture. The bill also updates the exceptions to the ownership limitations and outlines the process for divesting interests that exceed the allowed amounts. Overall, Assembly Bill 30 seeks to enhance the protection of Wisconsin's agricultural and forestry lands from foreign adversarial influence.

Statutes affected:
Bill Text: 710.02(2)(intro.), 710.02, 710.02(3), 710.02(5)(a)(intro.), 710.02(5)(a)1, 710.02(5)(a)2, 710.02(6)