Phoenix, AZ – Today, Governor Katie Hobbs announced her proposal, the BAN (Blocking Adversarial Nations) Act, that will crack down on the governments of China, Russia, North Korea, and other foreign adversaries. The proposal will forbid foreign adversaries from owning land near Arizona’s military bases and critical infrastructure from day one and stop foreign adversary proxies from owning land on their government’s behalf.
The proposal comes after Republican legislators passed a watered down, weak-on-China bill. The weak bill would allow the People’s Republic of China to own land near military bases for three years at a time. Additionally, it contains loopholes that would allow Chinese Communist Party proxies, including Party leaders and foreign adversary-controlled businesses to purchase and own unlimited land in the state. The bill did nothing to combat other designated foreign adversaries, including Russia, North Korea, and Iran from owning land in Arizona.
“I proudly vetoed weak and spineless legislation that would let the People’s Republic of China own land in Arizona for three years,” said Governor Katie Hobbs. “The bill would have damaged Arizona’s security, allowing the Chinese Communist Party to exploit loopholes and spy on Arizona’s military bases and critical infrastructure with impunity. If the legislature is serious about protecting Arizonans from foreign adversaries, I ask them to send me new legislation with my changes that will crack down on the governments of China, Russia, North Korea, Iran and other foreign adversaries and close the loopholes in their weak and watered down bill. The legislative majority needs to stop playing games with Arizona’s security and get serious about cracking down on enemies seeking to do us harm.” |
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