Security and Land Restriction Amendments

13
63L-13-101
63L-13-201
63L-13-204
63L-13-101
63L-13-201
63L-13-204
0
Security and Land Restriction Amendments
2026 GENERAL SESSION
STATE OF UTAH
Chief Sponsor: Candice B. Pierucci
Senate Sponsor: Michael K. McKell

Cosponsor:
Stephanie Gricius
Clinton D. Okerlund
Nelson T. Abbott
Matthew H. Gwynn
Nicholeen P. Peck
Cheryl K. Acton
Ken Ivory
Michael J. Petersen
Carl R. Albrecht
Colin W. Jack
Calvin Roberts
Tiara Auxier
Jill Koford
Troy Shelley
Melissa G. Ballard
Michael L. Kohler
Rex P. Shipp
Stewart E. Barlow
Jason B. Kyle
Mark A. Strong
Bridger Bolinder
Leah Hansen
R. Neil Walter
Jefferson S. Burton
Matt MacPherson
Raymond P. Ward
Tyler Clancy
Verona Mauga
Christine F. Watkins
Rosalba Dominguez
Tracy J. Miller
Doug Welton
James A. Dunnigan
Logan J. Monson
Stephen L. Whyte
Doug Fiefia
Carol S. Moss
Ryan D. Wilcox
LONG TITLE
General Description:
This bill amends provisions dealing with the sale of land to restricted foreign entities.
Highlighted Provisions:
This bill:
lowers the percentage of ownership a restricted foreign entity may maintain in a separate
entity before the separate entity is considered a restricted foreign entity;
provides that the Department of Public Safety (department) shall send a letter to an entity
the department suspects of being a restricted foreign entity;
provides that an entity to which the department sends a letter shall provide evidence that
demonstrates the entity is not a restricted foreign entity within 30 days after the day on
which the entity receives the letter;
provides that the attorney general shall coordinate with the Division of Facilities and
Construction Management when conducting a sale of a restricted foreign entity's interest
in land;
provides that if an entity does not respond to a letter from the department, the department
may impose a fine for each day the entity does not respond; and
makes technical changes.
Money Appropriated in this Bill:
None
Other Special Clauses:
None
Utah Code Sections Affected:
AMENDS:
63L-13-101
, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2024, Chapters 84, 504
63L-13-201
, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2025, Chapter 266
63L-13-204
, as enacted by Laws of Utah 2025, Chapter 266
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
Section 1. Section
63L-13-101
is amended to read:
63L-13-101
. Definitions.
As used in this chapter:
(1)
(a)
"Conservation lease" means a lease on a parcel of public land that:
(i)
restricts the use of the parcel for the sole or primary purpose of preserving or
protecting the land or the land's natural resources;
(ii)
prohibits the extraction of the land's natural resources; or
(iii)
is managed according to an agreement that contradicts the principles of multiple
use and sustained yield, including the multiple-use, sustained-yield principles in
the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, 43 U.S.C. Sec. 1732, and the
National Forest Management Act, 16 U.S.C. Sec. 1604.
(b)
"Conservation lease" includes a lease that is wholly or partially similar to a lease
described in Subsection
(1)(a)
.
(c)
"Conservation lease" does not include a conservation easement, as that term is
defined in Section
57-18-2
.
(2)
(a)
"Ecosystem services" mean the natural and biological processes on a parcel of
land that benefit human well-being and quality of life.
(b)
"Ecosystem services" include the:
(i)
conversion of carbon dioxide to oxygen in plants through photosynthesis;
(ii)
purification of in-stream surface water or groundwater by naturally-occurring
microorganisms, soil or bedrock percolation, or chemical detoxification; and
(iii)
noncommercial recreational benefit of natural lands.
(3)
"Interest in land" means any right, title, lien, claim, interest, or estate with respect to
land.
(4)
(a)
"Land" means all real property within the state.
(b)
"Land" includes:
(i)
agricultural land, as defined in Section
4-46-102
;
(ii)
land owned or controlled by a political subdivision;
(iii)
land owned or controlled by a school district;
(iv)
non-federal land, as defined in Section
9-9-402
;
(v)
private land;
(vi)
public land;
(vii)
state land, as defined in Subsection
9-9-402(14)(a)
;
(viii)
waters of the state, as defined in Subsection
19-5-102(23)(a)
; and
(ix)
subsurface land.
(c)
"Land" does not include real property that is owned, controlled, or held in trust by
the federal government.
(5)
"Land conveyance" means the transfer of any interest in land from one party to another.
(6)
(a)
"Natural asset company" means a company that has the meaning given under the
notice of the Securities and Exchange Commission titled Notice of Filing of
Proposed Rule Change To Amend the NYSE Listed Company Manual To Adopt
Listing Standards for Natural Asset Companies, 88 Fed. Reg. 68811, published
October 4, 2023.
(b)
"Natural asset company" includes a company that is substantially similar to a
company described in Subsection
(6)(a)
.
(7)
"Restricted foreign entity" means:
(a)
a company that the United States Secretary of Defense is required to identify and
report as a military company under Section 1260H of the William M. (Mac)
Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, Pub. L. No.
116-283;
(b)
an entity that
is owned or directly controlled by
the government of China, Iran,
North Korea, or Russia
owns or directly controls
;
(c)
an affiliate, subsidiary, or holding company of an entity described in Subsection
(7)(a)
or
(b)
;
(d)
a country with a commercial or defense industrial base of which an entity described
in Subsection
(7)(a)
, (b), or (c) is a part;
(e)
a state, province, region, prefecture, subdivision, or municipality of a country
described in Subsection
(7)(d)
;
(f)
an agency, bureau, committee, or department of a country described in Subsection
(7)(d)
; or
(g)
any
an
entity in which
any
an
entity described in Subsections
(7)(a)
through
(f)

maintains at least a
51%
25%
ownership interest.
Section 2. Section
63L-13-201
is amended to read:
63L-13-201
. Acquisition of land prohibited -- Exceptions -- Enforcement.
(1)
As used in this section, "department" means the Department of Public Safety created
under Section
53-1-103
.
(2)
Subject to Subsection
(3)
and Section
63L-13-202
, a restricted foreign entity may not
acquire an interest in land in this state.
(3)
A restricted foreign entity that, in violation of Subsection
(2)
, obtains an interest in land
shall alienate the interest in accordance with Section
63L-13-202
.
(4)
The department shall:
(a)
maintain a publicly available list of restricted foreign entities;
(b)
create a process by which a county recorder may report a land conveyance the county
recorder suspects is prohibited under this section;
(c)
provide an annual notice to each county recorder in the state that includes:
(i)
instruction on how to identify a restricted foreign entity;
(ii)
the process by which a county recorder may report to the department a land
conveyance the county recorder suspects is prohibited under this section; and
(iii)
any additional information the department deems necessary;
and
(d)
investigate the validity of each land conveyance a county recorder reports under this
section
;
.
(e)
(5)
Unless the department determines that sending a letter in accordance with this
Subsection
(5)
would interfere with the department's duties described in this section, after
receiving a report from a county recorder in accordance with Subsection
(4)
, the
department shall send a letter to each party involved in the land conveyance described in
the report that states that:
(a)
the department has reasonable suspicion that one or more of the parties to the land
conveyance is a restricted foreign entity;
(b)
the department's reasonable suspicion described in Subsection
(5)(a)
is a
presumption that each entity about which the department has reasonable suspicion is
a restricted foreign entity has the burden to overcome;
(c)
each entity the department suspects is a restricted foreign entity has 30 days after the
day on which the restricted foreign entity receives the letter to provide evidence to
the department that will overcome the presumption described in Subsection
(5)(b)
;
(d)
if, after the time period described in Subsection
(5)(c)
, the entity fails to provide
evidence to the department or the department determines that the evidence the entity
provides does not overcome the presumption, the department will proceed with the
requirements of Subsection
(6)
; and
(e)
if the entity fails to respond to the department within the time period described in
Subsection
(5)(c)
, the entity will be subject to the penalty described in Subsection
(8)
.
(6)
when, after investigation, the department determines that a land conveyance violates
this section
If an entity about which the department has reasonable suspicion that the
entity is a restricted foreign entity does not provide evidence that the department
determines sufficient to overcome the presumption that the entity is a restricted foreign
entity within the time period described in Subsection
(5)(c)
, the department shall
:
(i)
(a)
give notice to the restricted foreign entity that:
(A)
(i)
the land conveyance violates this section; and
(B)
(ii)
Section
63L-13-202
requires the restricted foreign entity to alienate the
restricted foreign entity's interest in the land within one year or the Division of
Facilities Construction and Management will sell the interest in accordance with
Subsection
63L-13-202(3)
;
and
(ii)
(b)
notify the county recorder of the county in which the land is located of the land
conveyance; and
(f)
(c)
coordinate with the
attorney general and the
Division of Facilities Construction
and Management to facilitate a sale of the interest in land as described in Section
63L-13-202
.
(5)
(7)
A county recorder:
(a)
is not liable for a conveyance to a restricted foreign entity;
(b)
shall, upon notice from the department under Subsection
(4)(e)(ii)
(6)(b)
, create a
public record of each violation of this section;
(c)
shall make available a form on which an individual purchasing an interest in land
may disclose that the individual served in the military of a restricted foreign entity;
and
(d)
shall send a form on which an individual makes a disclosure as described in
Subsection
(5)(c)
(7)(c)
to the department.
(8)
(a)
Subject to Subsection
(8)(b)
, the department may impose on an entity that fails to
respond to a letter the department sends in accordance with Subsection
(5)
a fine of
$500 for each day after the day on which the 30 day time period ends that the entity
does not respond.
(b)
The department may not impose the fine described in Subsection
(8)(a)
on or after
the day on which the interest in land is sold in accordance with Subsection
(6)(c)
.
Section 3. Section
63L-13-204
is amended to read:
63L-13-204
. Purchase of interest of land or lease of an interest in land on behalf
of restricted foreign entity prohibited -- Disclosure required.
(1)
A person may not purchase an interest in land or lease an interest in land on behalf of a
restricted foreign entity.
(2)
A person violates Subsection
(1)
if the person knowingly purchases an interest in land
or leases an interest in land:
(a)
using funds provided by a restricted foreign entity; or
(b)
under the direction of a restricted foreign entity.
(3)
An individual purchasing an interest in land shall disclose if the individual served in the
military of a restricted foreign entity.
(4)
An individual violates Subsection
(3)
if the individual fails to disclose to the county
recorder of the county in which the interest in land is located, on a form described in
Subsection
63L-13-201(5)
Subsection
63L-13-201(7)
, that the individual served in the
military of a restricted foreign entity.
(5)
A person that violates Subsection
(1)
is guilty of a third degree felony.
(6)
An individual who violates Subsection
(3)
is guilty of a third degree felony.
Section 4.
Effective Date.
This bill takes effect on
May 6, 2026
.
2-25-26 10:04 AM