Shown verbatim: the complete text as captured from the official PDF posted by the Tennessee General Assembly, fetched 2026-09-25. Page and line markers are part of the official record; nothing is edited or removed. This is the chaptered version. The official bill page.
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~tate of \leennessee
PUBLIC CHAPTER NO. 337
HOUSE BILL NO. 219
By Representatives Reedy, Russell, Powers, Hulsey, Warner, Vital
Substituted for: Senate Bill No. 519
By Senators Roberts, Lowe, Bowling, Rose, Jackson, Walley, Stevens, Watson
AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 66, Chapter 2, Part 3, relative to
property.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 66, Chapter 2, Part 3, is amended by
adding the following as a new section:
(a) As used in this section:
(1) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of agriculture or the
commissioner's designee;
(2) "Foreign person", as defined under the federal Agricultural Foreign
Investment Disclosure Act (7 U.S.C. § 3501 et seq.), means:
(A) An individual:
(i) Who is not a citizen or national of the United States;
(ii) Who is not a citizen of the Northern Mariana Islands or
the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands; or
(iii) Who is not lawfully admitted to the United States for
permanent residence, or paroled into the United States, under the
federal Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et seq.);
(8) A person, other than an individual or a government, which is
created or organized under the laws of a foreign government or that has
its principal place of business located outside of all the United States;
(C) A person, other than an individual or a government:
(i) Which is created or organized under the laws of any
state; and
(ii) In which, as determined by the United States secretary
of agriculture, under regulations the secretary shall prescribe, a
significant interest or substantial control is directly or indirectly
held:
(a) By an individual referred to in subdivision
(a)(2)(A);
(b) By a person referred to in subdivision (a)(2)(8);
(c) By a foreign government; or
(d) By any combination of such individuals,
persons, or governments; or
(D) A foreign government; and
HB219
(3) "Person" includes an individual, corporation, company, association,
firm, partnership, society, joint stock company, trust, estate, or other legal entity.
(b) A foreign person required to make a report to the United States department of
agriculture under the federal Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act, shall also
file a copy of the required report with the commissioner within the time period required
under the federal Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act .
(c) The commissioner shall notify the attorney general and reporter of a foreign
person's failure to file a copy of the report as required under subsection (b), whereupon
the attorney general and reporter:
(1) May seek and collect a civil penalty not to exceed twenty-five percent
(25%) of the fair market value, on the date of the assessment of the penalty, of
the interest in the agricultural land for such failure to file the report with the
commissioner as required under subsection (b); and
(2) May bring action to collect the civil penalty in the circuit court of any
county in which any portion of the agricultural land acquired is located.
(d)
(1) This section expires upon the repeal of the federal Agricultural Foreign
Investment Disclosure Act.
(2) The commissioner shall notify the executive secretary of the
Tennessee code commission in writing of the repeal of the federal Agricultural
Foreign Investment Disclosure Act.
SECTION 2. The commissioner of agriculture is authorized to promulgate rules to
effectuate this act. The rules must be promulgated in accordance with the Uniform
Administrative Procedures Act, compiled in Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 4, Chapter 5.
SECTION 3. For the purpose of promulgating rules, this act takes effect upon becoming
a law, the public welfare requiring it, and applies to reports made to the United States
department of agriculture on or after July 1, 2025.
2
HOUSE BILL NO. 219
PASSED: April 15, 2025
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CAME"91'fSEXTON,SPEAKER
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
RAND
SPEAKER OFT
APPROVED this :2,,,,J_ day of r rYic,< 1 2025
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BILL LEE, GOVERNOREvery fact on this page links to its source, starting with the official bill record.