JEFFERSON CITY — A suspected Chinese spy balloon’s flight over the United States last week has inflated the issue of foreign ownership of farmland in Missouri’s Capitol.
On Thursday, Senate President Caleb Rowden announced the formation of a new committee that will handle legislation related to potential incursions by foreign countries into the state.
The panel’s lengthy name will be the Senate Select Committee on Protection of Missouri Assets from Foreign Adversaries.
Despite the timing, less than a week after the surveillance balloon ignited a diplomatic crisis in Washington and triggered calls by Republicans for the balloon to be shot down immediately, Rowden initially denied the incident was related to the new committee.
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“It wasn’t a direct response to the balloon,†Rowden told reporters at a weekly press conference.
But, he added, “I think that did thrust it back to the front of the spotlight.â€
“We had been talking about this foreign ownership for a while and really do want to come to a resolution that clamps down tremendously on China and other adversarial countries,†Rowden said.
“We thought it was a big enough issue with enough conversation certainly happening behind the scenes that warranted a committee in and of itself to look at it,†he added.
The panel will be headed by Sen. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, who last year made an unsuccessful bid for Congress. He is a member of the now-defunct Senate Conservative Caucus, a small faction of Republican senators blamed last year for holding up action in the Legislature’s upper chamber over issues like abortion and spending.
China’s ownership of farmland in Missouri has been a political hot potato since the Republican-controlled House and Senate voted in 2013 to allow Chinese-owned Smithfield Foods to legally own farmland in the state, primarily for its hog farming operations.
As a state representative, Rowden supported the legislation allowing foreign ownership. Now he says there are trust issues with China, especially after the balloon hovered over Missouri during its trek across the nation’s skies before it was shot down by the U.S. military Saturday off the coast of South Carolina.
“I do think that situation that obviously was on display for the entire country to see, and for the world to see, frankly, it just highlights a reality that … you can’t trust the Chinese government. You can’t trust their motives,†Rowden said Thursday.
Democrats said they were pleased the issue was being given attention by Republicans after years of Democrats sounding the warning bell. Sen. Doug Beck, D-Affton, for example, has been pressing for limits on foreign ownership of farmland for the past five years.
“That’s another Democrat idea from 10 years ago,†Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo said Thursday.
Legislation this year by Beck would prohibit agricultural land acquisitions by foreign owners and would require proposed land deals by foreign owners to be submitted to the Department of Agriculture “to determine whether such transfer of agricultural land is conveyed in accordance with the prohibition,†according to a bill summary.
Beck’s bill has yet to receive a committee hearing.
Among the new committee’s first tasks will be vetting legislation that, if approved by voters, would create a Joint Committee on State Security.
That panel would determine whether individuals and governments could be prohibited from buying property in the state and whether social networking devices like Chinese-owned TikTok could be banned on state-owned mobile phones, even though Republican Gov. Mike Parson has said the popular app isn’t allowed on state devices anyway.
The measure is aimed at China, Iran, North Korea and Russia.
Rowden said he is calling for swift action by the committee.
“We will probably see some movement on that in the next couple of weeks,†he said. “We want to find a way to get that issue squared away.â€