SF 2760

1st Engrossment - 79th Legislature (1995 - 1996) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to agriculture; providing an exception to 
  1.3             alien ownership of agricultural land for production of 
  1.4             timber and forestry products; amending Minnesota 
  1.5             Statutes 1994, section 500.221, subdivision 2. 
  1.6   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.7      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 500.221, 
  1.8   subdivision 2, is amended to read: 
  1.9      Subd. 2.  [ALIENS AND NON-AMERICAN CORPORATIONS.] Except as 
  1.10  hereinafter provided, no natural person shall acquire directly 
  1.11  or indirectly any interest in agricultural land unless the 
  1.12  person is a citizen of the United States or a permanent resident 
  1.13  alien of the United States.  In addition to the restrictions in 
  1.14  section 500.24, no corporation, partnership, limited 
  1.15  partnership, trustee, or other business entity shall directly or 
  1.16  indirectly, acquire or otherwise obtain any interest, whether 
  1.17  legal, beneficial or otherwise, in any title to agricultural 
  1.18  land unless at least 80 percent of each class of stock issued 
  1.19  and outstanding or 80 percent of the ultimate beneficial 
  1.20  interest of the entity is held directly or indirectly by 
  1.21  citizens of the United States or permanent resident aliens.  
  1.22  This section shall not apply:  
  1.23     (1) to agricultural land that may be acquired by devise, 
  1.24  inheritance, as security for indebtedness, by process of law in 
  1.25  the collection of debts, or by any procedure for the enforcement 
  2.1   of a lien or claim thereon, whether created by mortgage or 
  2.2   otherwise.  All agricultural land acquired in the collection of 
  2.3   debts or by the enforcement of a lien or claim shall be disposed 
  2.4   of within three years after acquiring ownership; 
  2.5      (2) to citizens or subjects of a foreign country whose 
  2.6   rights to hold land are secured by treaty; 
  2.7      (3) to lands used for transportation purposes by a common 
  2.8   carrier, as defined in section 218.011, subdivision 2; 
  2.9      (4) to lands or interests in lands acquired for use in 
  2.10  connection with (i) the production of timber and forestry 
  2.11  products by a corporation organized under the laws of Minnesota, 
  2.12  or (ii) mining and mineral processing operations.  Pending the 
  2.13  development of agricultural land for the production of timber 
  2.14  and forestry products or mining purposes the land may not be 
  2.15  used for farming except under lease to a family farm, a family 
  2.16  farm corporation or an authorized farm corporation; 
  2.17     (5) to agricultural land operated for research or 
  2.18  experimental purposes if the ownership of the agricultural land 
  2.19  is incidental to the research or experimental objectives of the 
  2.20  person or business entity and the total acreage owned by the 
  2.21  person or business entity does not exceed the acreage owned on 
  2.22  May 27, 1977; 
  2.23     (6) to the purchase of any tract of 40 acres or less for 
  2.24  facilities incidental to pipeline operation by a company 
  2.25  operating a pipeline as defined in section 116I.01, subdivision 
  2.26  3; or 
  2.27     (7) to agricultural land and land capable of being used as 
  2.28  farmland in vegetable processing operations that is reasonably 
  2.29  necessary to meet the requirements of pollution control law or 
  2.30  rules. 
  2.31     Sec. 2.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
  2.32     Section 1 is effective the day following final enactment.