PASS Act of 2022

Promoting Agriculture Safeguards and Security Act of 2022 or the PASS Act of 2022

This bill places the Secretary of Agriculture on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). Further, the bill requires CFIUS to review certain agriculture-related transactions, including those related to biotechnology.

The bill also prohibits persons who are acting on behalf of a prohibited country (i.e., China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea) from carrying out any merger, acquisition, or takeover that could result in foreign control of a U.S. agricultural company.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8274 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8274

To amend the Defense Production Act of 1950 to include the Secretary of 
Agriculture on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States 
and require review of certain agricultural transactions, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              July 1, 2022

 Ms. Stefanik (for herself, Mr. Crawford, Mr. Austin Scott of Georgia, 
Mr. Wenstrup, and Mr. Johnson of South Dakota) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in 
addition to the Committees on Foreign Affairs, and Energy and Commerce, 
for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case 
for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of 
                        the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Defense Production Act of 1950 to include the Secretary of 
Agriculture on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States 
and require review of certain agricultural transactions, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Promoting Agriculture Safeguards and 
Security Act of 2022'' or the ``PASS Act of 2022''.

SEC. 2. REVIEW OF AGRICULTURE-RELATED TRANSACTIONS BY CFIUS.

    (a) In General.--Section 721 of the Defense Production Act of 1950 
(50 U.S.C. 4565) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(5)--
                    (A) by striking ``means, subject'' and inserting 
                the following: ``means--
                    ``(A) subject'';
                    (B) by striking the period at the end and inserting 
                ``; and''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(B) includes--
                            ``(i) the sector of agriculture (as such 
                        term is defined in section 3 of the Fair Labor 
                        Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 203)); and
                            ``(ii) biotechnology related to the 
                        agriculture sector.'';
            (2) in subsection (k)(2)--
                    (A) by redesignating subparagraph (J) as 
                subparagraph (K); and
                    (B) by inserting after subparagraph (I) the 
                following:
                    ``(J) The Secretary of Agriculture.''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(r) Prohibition With Respect to Agricultural Companies.--
            ``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
        this section, persons who are acting on behalf of or otherwise 
        directed by the government of a prohibited country may not 
        carry out any merger, acquisition, or takeover that could 
        result in foreign control of a United States agricultural 
        company.
            ``(2) Prohibited country.--In this subsection, the term 
        `prohibited country' means each of the following:
                    ``(A) China.
                    ``(B) Russia.
                    ``(C) Iran.
                    ``(D) North Korea.''.
    (b) Report Required.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, and every 180 days thereafter, the Secretary of 
Agriculture shall submit to the Committee on Agriculture of the House 
of Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and 
Forestry of the Senate a report on the risks that foreign purchases of 
agricultural companies pose to the agricultural sector of the United 
States.
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