Summary

• Purpose: Keep Indiana farmland in Indiana hands, require right‑of‑first‑refusal for nearby family farmers, and publish beneficial ownership to end shell games.
• Net fiscal impact (annual): Low: ~$0.3B savings | Mid: ~$0.6B savings | High: ~$1.0B+ savings; administrative registry and enforcement costs ~$25–50M.
• Primary beneficiaries: Family farmers, rural communities, taxpayers, and food security through local control and transparency.

Mechanism of savings

• Enforcement recoveries: Civil penalties (up to $10,000/acre) and forfeiture on violative ownership deter noncompliance and return ill‑gotten land value.
• Subsidy integrity: Public ownership registry reduces leakage and fraud in ag subsidies and conservation payments tied to land eligibility.
• Transaction discipline: Right‑of‑first‑refusal curbs speculative price spikes and consolidation pressure, preserving local operator viability and tax base stability.
• Transparency: Beneficial ownership disclosures and dashboards lower audit costs and expose complex control structures that hide foreign stakes.

Assumptions

• Registry scope: Ownership disclosures for parcels >25 acres cover the majority of commercial farmland transactions.
• Enforcement yield: Penalty/forfeiture actions affect a small share of transactions but create outsized deterrence; annual recoveries scale with audit intensity.
• Admin costs: Standing up the registry, dashboard, and audit pipeline: ~$25–50M annually (state + federal coordination).
• Market impact: Local purchasing priority reduces consolidation externalities and keeps operating margins in‑state, lowering subsidy dependence over time.

Calculations

• Low case: ~$0.4B savings (penalties/forfeiture + reduced subsidy leakage) – ~$0.1B admin/enforcement = ≈ ~$0.3B net.
• Mid case: ~$0.7B savings – ~$0.1B costs = ≈ ~$0.6B net.
• High case: ~$1.1B savings – ~$0.1B costs = ≈ ~$1.0B+ net.

Risks and mitigation

• Ownership obfuscation: Mandatory beneficial‑owner disclosure, per‑acre fines, and void‑ab‑initio transfers neutralize shell structures.
• Litigation pressure: Clear forfeiture terms (original price compensation only) and concurrent AG/DOJ jurisdiction harden enforcement.
• Transaction delays: Time‑boxed 180‑day right‑of‑first‑refusal with transparent bidding protects sellers while prioritizing local buyers.

Measurement and reporting

• KPIs: Parcels registered (>25 acres), disclosed beneficial owners, right‑of‑first‑refusal outcomes, enforcement actions, penalties collected, forfeitures.
• Cadence: Quarterly public dashboard updates; annual audit summaries; public listings of noncompliance and outcomes.

Bottom line

This bill locks farmland to local hands, exposes hidden owners, and puts family farmers first. It delivers hard savings through enforcement and subsidy integrity, with modest admin costs — and every outcome is published as receipts the public can verify.