Before leaving for the holiday, Ohio lawmakers took votes on dozens of bills.
But near-identical ones banning “foreign adversaries” from buying real property in wide swaths of protected areas, which have drawn ire from Asian-American communities throughout the state, won’t get a vote until the new year, at the earliest.
Under House Bill 1 and Senate Bill 88, both businesses and certain non-citizens, such as lawful permanent residents, hailing from countries defined as adversarial would be subject to the proposed ban. China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela under the regime of Nicolás Maduro are considered foreign adversaries, according to the Ohio Secretary of State’s office.
The lengthy list of protected properties includes anything within a certain radius of either military facilities such as bases or “critical” infrastructure, from water treatment facilities to railroads to electric generation facilities.
“I do think it’s something that we want to move on,” House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) told reporters in November. “There are some complexities involved, and one of the complexities is there are a lot of folks who came here throughout history, the 20th century, even the 19th century, to avoid tyranny in other countries. I think that’s true in China.”
Huffman wants HB 1 to more clearly define who, or what, might be unable to buy real estate, he said, referencing similar legislation in Florida that has been facing litigation.
Democrats in the legislature have argued HB 1 and SB 88 would unfairly target certain immigrant communities.
“The bill as drafted is way overbroad. It’s an attack on Ohio businesses, it’s an attack on Ohio families, and it’s an attack on Ohio’s future,” House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn (D-Cincinnati) said.
HB 1 did get amended before Thanksgiving. The House Public Safety Committee excluded green card holders and military members from being subject to the ban and narrowed the radius from 25 miles to ten miles.
The Asian American Coalition of Ohio (AACO), Justice for Ohio and the Ohio Chinese American Association (OCAA) are all still against HB 1.
“While these changes indicate lawmakers are hearing the public’s concerns, they do not resolve HB 1’s core deficiencies,” all three wrote in a joint email last month.
In 2023, Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed 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.
