With Florida’s Legislative Session coming to a close, the Sunshine State’s Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson (R-FL) applauded the State Legislature’s passage of Senate Bill 264, a bill concerning “Interests of Foreign Countries” which looks to protect Florida’s food supply by barring hostile nations from purchasing agricultural land and plots near “critical infrastructure facilities.”
Commissioner Simpson released a statement concerning the bill’s journey to Governor Ron DeSantis’s desk.
“Food security is national security, and we have a responsibility to ensure Floridians have access to a safe, affordable and abundant food and water supply,” stated Commissioner 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, our water quality 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.”
He would also thank those in Florida’s government, including Gov. DeSantis and highest-ranking legislators in Tallahassee.
“I thank Governor Ron DeSantis, Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, House Speaker Paul Renner, Senator Jay Collins, and Representative David Borrero for their leadership on this issue and their commitment to protecting Florida and our security interests,” said Simpson.
In January, Gov. DeSantis went on Tucker Carlson Tonight to discuss the Chinese acquisition of American land, and provided how Florida will look to combat this from happening.
"We want no CCP land purchases. And obviously they're not going to do it directly, they'll have shell companies, so we're going to have to have a system in place to scrutinize this," said DeSantis.
DeSantis would also state that he believes that the federal government is turning its back on states like Florida that are attempting to fix this problem, as they are “stepping in for the federal government’s failings.”
“Honestly, we should not have to be doing this. The federal government should be taking care of the immigration issue, and they should be taking care of the CCP issue. But with this administration, we know neither of those two things are going to happen,” concluded DeSantis.
The Florida Governor is expected to sign the bill.
