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Rep. Scott Stadthagen, R-Hartselle, Majority Leader of the Alabama House of Representatives, has filed the “Alabama Property Protection Act,” HB379, which would prevent Chinese ownership of property in the State of Alabama.
“I don’t believe we should allow buyers from communist China to purchase Alabama land and resources to use for their purposes,” Stadthagen said. “Our agricultural and manufacturing resources are critical to the success of our state and our nation. We are also home to multiple military installations and soon be home to Space Command. This bill ensures that those facilities, those resources and those installations will not be neighbors with the CCP.”
The bill is similar to the “Not one More Inch or Acre” legislation that has been introduced by Senator Katie Britt, R-Alabama, and Senator Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas.
“Senator Britt is tackling this issue on the federal level but we need an Alabama solution as well. That is what this legislation does. It allows us to protect property within the boundaries of our state,” Stadthagen explained.
The National Association of Realtors recently released a report showing that Chinese buyers purchased $6.1 billion of American real estate in the time period from April, 2021 and March, 2022.
“This is an issue we need to address now. There is no reason to wait until we have a major problem before us to address it,” Stadthagen explained. “This is something that Alabamians want and something our state needs. I believe this bill will have strong bipartisan support.”
The legislation will be heard before a House committee before consideration by the entire body.
Stadthagen represents District 9 in the Alabama House of Representatives and also serves as the House Majority Leader, a position he was elected to by his fellow Republican legislators. He is currently serving his second term in the Alabama legislature.
