(The Center Square) – Protection of land adjacent to North Carolina’s military installations or used for agriculture is closer to reality in the General Assembly.
While there is a stall for a companion bill in the Senate of a bill passed unanimously in the House of Representatives, a proposal in the upper chamber on Thursday was approved unanimously. Details for the trio of bills appears likely. Crossover day is one week away.
Prohibit Foreign Ownership of NC Land, known also as Senate Bill 394, passed 42-0 and includes a clause saying its name would be North Carolina Farmland and Military Protection Act.
NC Farmland and Military Protection Act, known also as House Bill 133 and Senate Bill 504, got a 111-0 approval in the House on April 16. Senate Bill 504 was filed March 25 and has been in the Rules Committee since the day after.
China, Iran, North Korea and Russia are named adversarial nations in the Senate bill passed. The distance is listed “within a 25-mile radius of a military installation.”
Military installations by name are Fort Bragg; Pope Army Airfield; Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune; New River Marine Corps Air Station; Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station; Military Ocean Terminal at Sunny Point; the U.S. Coast Guard Station at Elizabeth City; Naval Support Activity Northwest; Air Route Surveillance Radar at Fort Fisher, also known as ARSR-4; Camp Butner; Seymour Johnson Air Force Base; and the Dare County Bombing Range. The language also says, “any military training facility located within the state that is subject to the installations’ oversight and control.”
The bill, if enacted, would become effective Dec. 1.
House Bill 133 puts the radius of a military installation at 75 miles as recommended by the U.S. Defense Department.
