Ohio legislators are again considering near-identical bills banning “foreign adversaries” from buying real property in wide swaths of protected areas, which has drawn ire from Asian-American communities throughout the state.
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.
The lengthy list of protected properties includes anything within a 25-mile radius of either military facilities such as bases or “critical” 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 Nicolás Maduro are considered foreign adversaries, according to the Ohio Secretary of State’s office.
Some think HB 1 and SB 88 go too far.
“They are targeting all of civilization,” said Vincent Wang, chair of the Asian American Coalition of Ohio. “We must call out this (as) a racist agenda.”
GOP lawmakers, including House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima), have defended the logic behind the bills.
“I think there is an issue with unfair trade practices between Ohio and China, certainly the United States and China,” Huffman said last Wednesday. “We haven’t had a debate about that bill in our caucus in terms of the likelihood of that passing.”
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.
“This is not addressing a national security concern,” Abdullahi said Tuesday. “There are many ways to address these security concerns through national intelligence channels, through security channels. This is a bill that is signifying hate.”
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’s Office, the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation and the Christian Business Partnership. Neither bill has been slated for votes yet.
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.
