Ohio legislators are again considering near-identical bills banning 鈥渇oreign adversaries鈥� from buying real property in wide swaths of protected areas, which has drawn ire from Asian-American communities throughout the state.
Under and , both businesses and certain non-citizens鈥攕uch as lawful permanent residents鈥攈ailing from countries defined as adversarial would be subject to the proposed ban.
The lengthy list of protected properties includes anything within a 25-mile radius of either military facilities such as bases or 鈥渃ritical鈥� infrastructure, from water treatment facilities to railroads to electric generation facilities and more.
As of Tuesday afternoon, China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela under the regime of Nicol谩s Maduro are considered foreign adversaries, to the Ohio Secretary of State鈥檚 office.
Some think HB 1 and SB 88 go too far.
鈥淭hey are targeting all of civilization,鈥� said Vincent Wang, chair of the Asian American Coalition of Ohio. 鈥淲e must call out this (as) a racist agenda.鈥�
GOP lawmakers, including House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima), have defended the logic behind the bills.
鈥淚 think there is an issue with unfair trade practices between Ohio and China, certainly the United States and China,鈥� Huffman said last Wednesday. 鈥淲e haven鈥檛 had a debate about that bill in our caucus in terms of the likelihood of that passing.鈥�
Rep. Munira Abdullahi (D-Columbus) said in practice, however, the bills effectively prevent immigrants from those countries from owning a home or running a business in the state. Current property owners could have their property taken.
鈥淭his is not addressing a national security concern,鈥� Abdullahi said Tuesday. 鈥淭here are many ways to address these security concerns through national intelligence channels, through security channels. This is a bill that is signifying hate.鈥�
Abdullahi joined Reps. Juanita Brent (D-Cleveland) and Anita Somani (D-Dublin) as well as Wang and other members of the Asian-American community at a news conference Tuesday morning.
Hours later, more than 200 opponents submitted testimony against SB 88 in the Senate General Government committee.
Among the shorter list of proponents are the Ohio Attorney General鈥檚 Office, the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation and the Christian Business Partnership. Neither bill has been slated for votes yet.
In 2023, Gov. Mike DeWine similar measures that were added to the 2024-2025 budget. DeWine did sign off on related language banning foreign adversaries from buying agricultural farmland back then.