This bill increases the minimum amount of a civil penalty for violating the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (AFIDA). (The regulations that implemented AFIDA require foreign investors who acquire, transfer, or hold an interest in U.S. agricultural land to report such holdings and transactions to the Department of Agriculture.)
The bill requires that any AFIDA civil penalty be at least 50% of the fair market value of the interest in the agricultural land associated with the violation. Current law prohibits the civil penalty from exceeding 25% of the fair market value of the interest in the land.