Overview: This table compares Floyd’s bill against Iowa’s 2024 foreign farmland law (SF 2204) and the federal PASS Act proposals. It highlights scope, enforcement, transparency, and protections for local farmers.
| Feature | Floyd’s Family Farm Protection & Land Freedom Act | Iowa SF 2204 (2024) | Federal PASS Act |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scope | Indiana agricultural land; comprehensive ownership, leasing, and control. | Foreign interests in Iowa agricultural land; focuses on reporting and enforcement enhancements. | National security focus; foreign adversaries’ purchases of ag land/businesses near sensitive sites and expanded federal review. |
| Ownership restrictions | Bans purchase, lease, or acquisition by foreign entities; voids violative transfers. | Iowa historically restricts foreign ownership with exceptions; SF 2204 tightens oversight and penalties. | Targets entities from China, Russia, Iran, North Korea; bars acquisitions near military/sensitive sites and mandates prohibitions after review. |
| Right of first refusal | Yes — 180‑day window for nearby family farmers to purchase at fair market value before sale to outside corporations/funds. | Not included. | Not included. |
| Transparency / registry | Public registry of ownership >25 acres with beneficial owners; dashboard publication. | Enhances reporting to the state; requires annual reports; AG subpoena authority to investigate violations. | Expands federal CFIUS review to agriculture; no public land ownership registry component. |
| Enforcement | State AG concurrent with DOJ; forfeiture of land on violations (compensation limited to original price); civil penalties for concealment. | Increases fines; empowers AG with subpoenas and enhanced oversight of foreign land holdings and reporting. | Directs CFIUS and President to prohibit covered transactions; national‑security enforcement mechanisms. |
| Penalties | Up to $10,000 per acre for concealment; forfeiture for violative ownership. | Up to $10,000 per reporting violation; failure to disclose may incur up to 25% of property value; tightens from prior $2,000 cap. | Prohibition of transactions; no per‑acre civil penalty framework specified in public summaries. |
| Local farmer advantage | Explicit purchasing priority for nearby family farmers. | Focus on oversight; no explicit purchasing priority mechanism. | National security focus; no local purchasing priority mechanism. |
Why mine goes further: Unlike Iowa’s law, which concentrates on reporting and penalties, my bill adds a public beneficial‑ownership registry and a right‑of‑first‑refusal that concretely advantages local family farmers. Unlike the PASS Act’s national‑security lens, my bill directly defends ownership, transparency, and local purchasing power statewide.
Context: Iowa’s SF 2204 strengthened an already strict regime by raising fines, expanding reporting, and empowering the Attorney General; it sits atop decades‑old limits and exceptions. At the federal level, PASS Act proposals expand CFIUS to agriculture, focus on adversary nations, and aim to block sensitive‑site acquisitions; currently, there is no comprehensive federal ownership cap, only AFIDA reporting and proposed restrictions through national‑security channels.