JEFFERSON CITY — The Missouri House approved a bill Tuesday that would further cut the amount of Missouri agricultural land that can be foreign owned in half.

Under current laws, foreign ownership of agricultural land cannot exceed 1% of the state's agricultural land. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Mike Haffner, R-Pleasant Hill, would cut that limit to 0.5%.

The bill would also require sales of land to foreign people or businesses to be reported to the Missouri Attorney General and Secretary of State before the sale is finalized.

Most representatives saw these policies as positive but also as only the beginning of protecting Missouri land from potentially predatory foreign investment. 

"This bill is the tip of the iceberg," Haffner said, "We have more work to do."

The bill also includes a list of countries that would be completely banned from having companies and individuals own Missouri farmland. The proposed list includes China, Iran, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela. As written in the bill, the governor would edit and approve the list every two years.

Many Democratic members of the house questioned whether banning certain countries was appropriate or even legal for the state of Missouri.

"When we pick and choose like the underlying bill does," Rep. Peter Merideth, D-St. Louis said, "That's where we cross the line into doing foreign policy as a state. That's what we're not allowed to do."  

Rep. Doug Clemens, D-St. Ann, echoed the opinions of his colleagues, saying he hoped the Senate would pull the banned list from the bill. 

Democrats also questioned how the bill would impact foreign residents who wish to buy agricultural land in Missouri.

An amendment proposed by Rep. Emily Weber, D-Kansas City, would have put additional language in the bill protecting lawful residents' ability to buy property. This would have included green card holders, dual citizens, work visa holders and other non-citizen residents of Missouri.

Weber referenced that similar legislation in Texas that she said has stopped some legal residents from buying houses.

Haffner dismissed Weber's concerns, saying that several different federal statutes already protect those specific rights and there was no need to put clarifying wording in the bill.

The House stopped the debate on Weber's proposed amendment using the previous question and voted it down. The bill was approved soon after. It requires one more vote from the House before moving to the Senate.