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Lawmakers aim to crack down on the influence of foreign governments through legislation moving through the statehouse.
One bill would require foreign agents that receive funding or are owned by adversary nations, including Russia and China, to register with the State Attorney General.
That Senate bill coincides with another measure originating from the House requiring foreign influence security reviews for students enrolling in educational institutions who come from countries identified as adversary nations. The measure would also limit the purchase of land by an individual who is a citizen of a foreign adversary.
Both bills use the federal list of foreign adversary nations, which includes Iran, China, Cuba, North Korea and Russia.
Lawmakers said they are worried about foreign countries influencing Indiana’s politics and want businesses or state actors to have to identify themselves.
Foreign actors are already required to register at the federal level, but Matt Bell, representing State Shield, a conservative advocacy group opposed to foreign influence, said the federal government is overwhelmed.
“What we’re asking is disclosure. We’re not asking anyone to stop political activity; there simply needs to be a choice: if you’re receiving money from a covered foreign entity, you’re disclosing that,” he said.
State Shield’s list of political opponents also includes the World Health Organization.
The bill would require the reporting of any transactions with a foreign adversary that are more than 10% of an organization’s annual revenue. Foreign agents can include organizations that are owned by more than 51% by a hostile foreign country.
Bill sponsor Rep. Matt Commons, R-Williamsport, said he’s worried about the influence of foreign countries deemed “adversaries.”
“If you’re taking money from a foreign, adversarial country and advocating on behalf of the policies that are beneficial to them, we should know that, and we should be able to make our decisions based on that,” he said.
During testimony, Commons pointed to the Chinese tech company Alibaba as one that could be influencing Indiana politics. The company was briefly listed as aiding the Chinese military last week in a posting from the Pentagon.
The list has since been withdrawn, and Alibaba has denied any connection with the Chinese military, according to reporting from Reuters.
“We can track the things they do within Communist China,” Commons said. “They’re a member in certain organizations in Indiana, but not just in Indiana, across the United States.”
Commons sponsored the foreign influence bill out of the Senate and authored the House bill requiring security checks for some students and limiting land purchases. He said the goals of the bills are different, but they go “hand in hand.”
“We want to make sure the people who are coming from certain countries and majoring in certain majors go through a security review,” he said. “It’s not about the people, it’s about the government.”
The bill passed unanimously out of committee, with few objections from House Democrats.
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