Gov Katie Hobbs vetoes bill to prevent CCP from buying up Arizona land

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Arizona's Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs refused to back a bill to prevent the Chinese communist government from buying and owning land in her state. The bill, which would have banned the CCP from having a substantial interest of 30% or more in Arizona land, was GOP-backed.

Democrats initially said the bill could lead to discrimination in property sales. But by May, an amendment to the bill narrowed the ban to just the CCP as opposed to all businesses from countries "designated as enemies of the United States by the director of national intelligence," said the Arizona Mirror.

With the new language, the bill passed the Arizona House with a vote of 41-17, which included 8 Democrats voting in favor of the measure. The Arizona Senate approved too, though their vote was along party lines.

Hobbs, however, wouldn't have it. Her short veto read: "Today, I vetoed Senate Bill 1109. Improvements to systems that protect our infrastructure are important. However, this legislation is ineffective at counter-espionage and does not directly protect our military assets. Additionally, it lacks clear implementation criteria and opens the door to arbitrary enforcement."

Sponsor of the bill, State Senator Janae Shamp, said that the goal of the bill was to protect American national interests, including protecting US military bases from being spied on by CCP drones or other surveillance techniques. During a debate on the bill in February, Shamp said that this kind of surveillance from the CCP was already happening in her state.

"The actual Chinese government, our enemy, was trying to lease buildings near the (Luke Air Force) base," Shamp said, per the Arizona Mirror. "(N)ot making sure that we are protecting our national security or our men and women on the ground here in Arizona is ludicrous to me."

Shamp accused Hobbs of making a "politically motivated veto" and called the move "utterly insane." Of Hobbs, she said the governor was "an obstructionist against safeguarding our citizens from threats."

"Governor Hobbs’s veto of SB 1109 hangs an 'Open for the CCP' sign on Arizona’s front door, allowing Communist China to buy up American land near critical assets like Luke Air Force Base, Palo Verde nuclear power plant, and Taiwan Semiconductor’s growing fabrication footprint," said Michael Lucci, the CEO and founder of State Armor Action, per Fox News.

"Allowing Communist China to buy up land near our critical assets is a national security risk, plain and simple, and Governor Hobbs is substantively and completely wrong when she says that SB 1109 ‘is ineffective at counter-espionage and does not directly protect our military assets,’" he said.