The South Dakota House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee has advanced Senate Bill 40, legislation updating compliance requirements related to foreign ownership of agricultural land. The bill received a do-pass recommendation on a 9-to-0 vote, with four members excused, and now heads to the full House. South Dakota Agriculture and Natural Resources Secretary Hunter Roberts told lawmakers the proposal is largely a cleanup of statutes approved several years ago. The bill also adds enforcement tools by creating a civil penalty of up to ten percent of the fair market value for failure to report transactions under the U.S. Agriculture Foreign Investment Disclosure Act. “I think ten percent seems fair and reasonable and a good way to incentivize or make sure that those foreign entities do report.” Roberts noted federal disclosure information can take 18 to 24 months to reach the state, making timely state-level reporting important.
