SC Senate OKs bill barring 'foreign adversary' land holdings

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina's Republican-controlled Senate passed a bill Thursday that would bar citizens of “foreign adversary” nations from buying property in the state, an anti-espionage measure that critics fear will chill overseas investments over outsize concerns.

The measure approved Thursday by a 31-5 vote would apply to citizens of so-called adversarial countries on a U.S. Department of Commerce list that currently includes China, Russia, Cuba, Iran and North Korea.

The bill is one of numerous like-minded measures that have arisen across the country after a suspected Chinese spy balloon recently floated over U.S. territory and was brought down off the South Carolina coast. The overflight fueled lawmakers' worries that nefarious actors may advance surveillance efforts under the guise of land ownership. At least 11 state legislatures are considering similar proposals.

The leading sponsor of the South Carolina bill, Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, said he was spurred to action by a Chinese biomedical company's pending $28 million purchase of 500 acres near the U.S. Army's Cyber Command headquarters in the state. He drew a parallel between some foreign land purchases and the Trojan Horse of Greek mythology.

“We need to look inside that wooden horse before we let it in the gate. And there are some countries that have given us more of a reason to look inside the wooden horse before we let it in the gate,” Massey said. “These five have specifically given us reason to have more scrutiny and to be a little bit more concerned.”

Massey said the law would no longer apply to countries if they are removed from the federal list and could apply to any that are added to it.

Democratic Sen. Dick Harpootlian, who...