After the passage of a multitude of bills standing up to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has officially signed SB 264, SB 846, and SB 258 into law.
These pieces of legislation attempt to stop CCP influence in the state of Florida by preventing the CCP from purchasing farmland or any land near military bases or “critical infrastructure,” as well as prohibiting the use of TikTok on government and educational servers and devices, according to the DeSantis press release.
“Florida is taking action to stand against the United States’ greatest geopolitical threat — the Chinese Communist Party,” said Gov. DeSantis. “I’m proud to sign this legislation to stop the purchase of our farmland and land near our military bases and critical infrastructure by Chinese agents, to stop sensitive digital data from being stored in China, and to stop CCP influence in our education system from grade school to grad school. We are following through on our commitment to crack down on Communist China.”
Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson (R-FL) supported the recent passage of the bills as well, especially SB 264, which prohibits acquisition of farmland by the CCP.
“Food security is national security, and we have a responsibility to ensure Floridians have access to a safe, affordable, and abundant food supply,” said Commissioner Wilton Simpson. “China and other hostile foreign nations control hundreds of thousands of acres of critical agricultural lands in the U.S., leaving our food supply and our national security interests at risk. Restricting China and other hostile foreign nations from controlling Florida’s agricultural land and lands near critical infrastructure facilities protects our state, provides long-term stability, and preserves our economic freedom,” stated Commissioner Simpson.
Gov. DeSantis also issued the following statement during a press conference after he signed all three bills.
@GovRonDeSantis warns of the Fentanyl crisis killing Americans
"People are dying because of the Fentanyl that is pouring in across that border. What kind of a nation just allows 10s of thousands of people to die at the hands of fentanyl..."https://t.co/Z6HxfTl9aC… pic.twitter.com/mImUOPp40m
— The Floridian (@Floridianpress) May 8, 2023
“You just look at the southern border: People are dying because of the fentanyl that is pouring in across that border. What kind of a nation just allows tens of thousands of people to die at the hands of fentanyl that the cartels are bringing over? What kind of a country allows Mexican drug cartels to rule our own border of our own country? So, you see failure after failure. And there’s a lot of threats to this country. But I’ll tell you, if we can’t get our house in order here at home, we’ve got no chance to deal with any of these other issues abroad.”
