JACKSON — Mississippi House of Representatives voted to approve the Mississippi Foreign Land Ownership Act Wednesday. House Bill 1284 would prohibit non-resident aliens from adversarial countries from buying agricultural and forest land.

Lincoln County Rep. Vince Mangold was one of the co-authors. Lincoln County Rep. Becky Currie introduced a similar bill earlier in the session. Her bill is still in committee where it will likely die. Currie told The Daily Leader she and other legislators wanted to strengthen existing laws in January. 

“You don’t want adversarial countries coming in and buying land,” Currie said in January. “We will have a hard time if we end up in a war. You couldn’t buy a house in China but we don’t seem to worry about it here. I try to write bills that have an interest and want from constituents. If they ask me to write legislation I will do my best to represent them.” 

The bill passed with 98 yes votes and 0 no votes. It will move on to the senate. 

Check back for more updates on Mississippi’s 2024 Legislative Session.