As of January 16, 2025, 47 (16.2 %) of all measures have been enacted (33) or adopted (14). 35 measures stay pending. 4 bills have been vetoed. The bulk – 198 (68.3 %), together with 32 that handed one chamber however failed within the different – have failed.
A big majority – 217 (74.8 %) measures – have been sponsored completely by Republicans, whereas 15 (5.2 %) had lean-Republican sponsorship. Democrats have been the only real sponsors of 20 measures (6.9 %), whereas 3 (1 %) had lean-Democrat sponsorship. Solely 6 (2.1 %) obtained bipartisan sponsorship.
249 measures (85.9 %) have been substantive, 38 (13.1 %) have been symbolic, and three (1 %) have been hybrid.
284 (97.9 %) exhibited an unfavorable sentiment towards China, whereas solely 6 (2.1 %) have been favorable (together with three resolutions adopted in Rhode Island and Delaware celebrating Lunar New 12 months). None was impartial of their stance.
Amongst 83 measures that obtained passage votes within the originating chamber (together with enacted and vetoed bills, adopted resolutions, and measures that handed one chamber however failed within the different), 57 (68.7 %) obtained bipartisan help (39 of which addressed security-related points), 11 (13.3 %) obtained lean-Republican help, 13 (15.7 %) obtained solely Republican help, whereas 2 (2.4 %) obtained lean-Democrat help.
Amongst 36 measures that additionally obtained passage votes within the reverse chamber, 22 (61.1 %) obtained bipartisan help (14 of which addressed security-related points), 10 (27.8 %) obtained lean-Republican help, three (8.3 %) obtained solely Republican help, whereas one (2.8 %) obtained lean-Democrat help.
Safety was the first topic addressed (220, 75.9 %), adopted by overseas affect and interference (36, 12.4 %), human rights (24, 8.3 %), public well being and the atmosphere (7, 2.4 %), and subnational engagement and cultural recognition (three, 1 %). The next sections spotlight key developments in choose main topic and difficulty areas.
Safety
Of 220 security-related measures launched in 2024, the best quantity completely centered on bodily security-related points (112, 50.9 %) (together with, specifically, overseas land buy/property acquisition), adopted by data safety (57, 25.9 %) and financial safety (44, 20 %). 167 (75.9 %) have been sponsored solely by Republicans. Amongst 56 measures that obtained passage votes within the originating chamber, 39 (69.6 %) obtained bipartisan help. Amongst 23 measures that additionally obtained passage votes within the reverse chamber, 14 (60.9 %) obtained bipartisan help.
Missouri thought-about essentially the most safety measures general (24), adopted by Tennessee (18), Florida (14), New Jersey (13), and Illinois (12). 24 bills have been enacted and 7 resolutions have been adopted, whereas three bills have been vetoed.
Bodily Safety
Limiting and/or prohibiting overseas land buy/property acquisition remained essentially the most dominant difficulty addressed, with 109 measures launched throughout 34 states.
13 bills that focus on China amongst overseas governments/adversaries, overseas adversaries solely, or overseas governments broadly, have been enacted in 12 states, together with South Dakota, Idaho, Wyoming, Indiana, Utah, Iowa, Mississippi, Nebraska, Georgia, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. Regardless of the momentum, as lawsuits in Florida stay pending and authorized challenges emerge elsewhere (together with Tennessee and Arkansas), some state officers seem to have exercised extra warning of their strategy.
Hawai’i’s SB 2617 handed the Senate unanimously and garnered hundreds of favorable testimonies, however the lawyer normal opposed it, citing grave constitutional considerations whereas warning of potential litigation and substantial financial legal responsibility for the state.
Kansas Home speaker Dan Hawkins, a Republican, emphasised combating threats from China, particularly drone espionage and overseas land possession as key state-level nationwide safety points in his rebuttal to Democratic Governor Laura Kelly’s state of the state tackle in January 2024. Within the 2024 session, Home Substitute for SB 172, “creating the Kansas land and military installation protection act to prohibit foreign principals from countries of concern from holding any interest in certain real property in this state,” handed largely alongside partisan traces.
Amongst its supporters are Republican state representatives Sean Tarwater and Chris Croft. Tarwater mentioned he obtained briefings from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and believed it “could be the most important bill that we look at this year, and probably in the last five years and maybe the next several.” Croft said, “In the face of a 21st Century ‘Cold War,’ it is imperative that we, as a state, take control of our destiny.”
Quite the opposite, Republican state senator Jeff Longbine described the invoice as “so unconstitutional that we’re going to bribe the affected party by paying them back their losses.” Legal professional and Democratic state senator Ethan Corson likewise famous he believed the invoice would result in many lawsuits, whereas Democratic state senator Jeff Pittman urged the legislature to work with the federal authorities to enhance the invoice. Governor Kelly vetoed SB 172, citing the destructive affect its overbreadth might have on financial improvement and constitutional considerations about its retroactive provisions.
In Florida, three Democratic legislators launched H 1455 to change Florida’s rules on overseas property possession by revising the definition of “foreign principal” and amending circumstances below which overseas people can buy residential property within the state, notably repealing a selected prohibition on property purchases by the PRC whereas sustaining restrictions round navy installations and including a requirement for minimal U.S. residency of 183 days. Whereas the invoice failed in committee, in a cellphone name on April 16, 2024, a staffer from the chief sponsor’s district workplace famous that the workplace has labored carefully with the Florida Asian American Justice Alliance and that the unique motivating issue behind the invoice was solely centered on China.
International land buy has additionally turn into a marketing campaign difficulty in state legislative races. In March 2024, a 21-year-old school junior in North Carolina who defeated a 10-year incumbent within the Republican main highlighted nationwide safety and China as a key side of his platform. He reportedly proposed “using eminent domain to reclaim” state lands owned by the CCP. In Might 2024, Texas Home Speaker Dade Phelan, amid a extremely expensive re-election marketing campaign, created the Home Choose Committee on Securing Texas from Hostile International Organizations. When requested to reply to claims made in opposition to him by his opponent, together with on agricultural land buy by “hostile nations,” Phelan famous that some U.S. residents retain Chinese language citizenship involuntarily, and sure proposed legal guidelines might unconstitutionally stop them from proudly owning property.
Info Safety
Among the many 57 information-security associated measures launched, six have been enacted. Amongst them, Florida’s S 1680 creates a council to observe new applied sciences’ improvement and overseas international locations of concern’ exploitation of AI, whereas H 1363 included a piece prohibiting Chinese language-made digital camera techniques for state visitors enforcement. Arkansas’ SB 78 and SB 79 prohibit possession of digital asset mining companies by international locations of explicit concern and require present foreign-controlled operations to divest inside one 12 months. Colorado’s SB 151, which obtained bipartisan help in each chambers, requires telecommunications suppliers to register with the state’s Division of Homeland Safety and take away/change any tools manufactured by federally banned entities (resembling these deemed nationwide safety threats) from their vital infrastructure by January 2025.
Banning the acquisition of drones manufactured by designated overseas entities (DJI specifically) was the first subject addressed, with 13 measures launched throughout 11 states, together with Oklahoma, West Virginia, Illinois, Arizona, Iowa, Mississippi, Kansas, Utah, Louisiana, Missouri, and Connecticut. Some native legislation enforcement communities (resembling in Connecticut and North Carolina) have expressed considerations in regards to the feasibility of implementing such measures, citing inadequate funding and an absence of efficient alternate options. Utah’s SB 135, which handed each chambers with bipartisan help, is the one such state invoice enacted. It prohibits authorities entities from buying or working unmanned plane techniques manufactured or assembled in China or Russia for inspection of vital infrastructure, efficient January 2025.
Kansas’s Home Substitute for SB 271 prohibits state procurement of drones with parts from China, Russia, or Iran. Governor Laura Kelly vetoed it, citing overly broad definitions and potential burdens on legislation enforcement businesses. She instructed various approaches by present procurement processes might tackle the underlying considerations extra successfully. The Senate tried however did not override the veto.
TikTok and/or ByteDance was the second main subject addressed, with 13 measures (together with 11 completely centered on TikTok and two addressing each TikTok and WeChat) launched in 11 states. None has handed.
Financial Safety
44 financial security-related measures have been launched in 21 states. 32 have been sponsored solely by Republicans.
Arizona’s SB 1340, titled the “Foreign Adversary Divestment Act,” handed each chambers with solely Republican help. It prohibits publicly managed funds from investing in overseas adversaries and requires divestment of prohibited holdings inside two years. Governor Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, vetoed the invoice, describing it as “detrimental” to the state’s financial development and funding portfolio.
Three bills have been enacted. Florida’s H 7071, which handed each chambers unanimously, prohibits the State Board of Administration (SBA) from buying direct holdings in corporations majority-owned by the Chinese language authorities, the Chinese language Communist Occasion, the Chinese language navy, or any mixture thereof. The SBA should evaluate its present direct holdings by June 2024 to determine any securities, develop a divestment plan by September 2024, and full divestment by September 2025.
Idaho’s H 665, which handed each chambers unanimously, requires the state treasurer to arrange a report by January 2025 on the quantity of state-managed funds invested in any overseas adversary, state-owned enterprise, or firm domiciled in or managed by a overseas adversary, as of June 2024. Kansas’s HB 2711, which handed the Home with bipartisan help and handed the Senate with lean-Republican help, requires the state treasurer to arrange a report by January 2025 on the quantity of state-managed funds invested in overseas adversaries, as of June 2024.
Comparable divestment evaluation measures and divestment mandates that both completely concentrate on PRC entities or embody China amongst overseas adversaries have been proposed however failed in Alabama, Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee, and Oklahoma, whereas remaining into account in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania state senator and former MAGA Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano started circulating a legislative memo expressing intent to start divesting all public funds from China in November 2023. The initiative garnered rapid help from state treasurer Stacy Garrity (R), who’s looking for re-election, noting she had divested Treasury holdings from China in 2022. Two native newspapers subsequently printed editorials endorsing the transfer. Mastriano launched SB 1141, the China Divestment Act, in April 2024.
West Virginia’s HB 4364 goals to ban state contracts with corporations tied to or profit overseas entities with values antithetical to the state’s, together with China. Whereas it failed to maneuver ahead within the 2024 legislative session, in April 2024, state treasurer Riley Moore (R), who was operating for Congress on the time, introduced that the West Virginia School and Jumpstart Financial savings Applications’ board of trustees voted to exclude China from the SMART529 Choose Plan’s rising markets funding possibility, a transfer he started exploring in late 2021. Moore famous that doing so would maximize returns whereas lowering publicity to regulatory and geopolitical dangers. (Moore was elected to the U.S. Home of Representatives in November 2024.)
Bills that aimed to ban contracts with entities owned or operated by China and different overseas adversaries failed in Iowa, Tennessee, Georgia, and Arizona. Bills that sought to ban procurement from these entities failed in Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Maryland, and Oklahoma.
International Affect and Interference
33 measures regarding overseas affect and interference have been launched, together with 12 centered on affect in schooling and 12 addressing affect in politics.
Six bills have been enacted. Amongst them, Indiana’s fiscal invoice HB 1120 included a provision prohibiting sister metropolis or any cooperative settlement with a prohibited particular person, outlined as a metropolis, city, province, county, faculty, school, or college positioned inside a overseas adversary (per 15 CFR 7.4). Indiana’s HB 1179, which completely focused the PRC when launched however was amended to take away the specific point out of China, requires disclosure of presents from overseas adversaries and bans mental property switch to prohibited overseas entities. Alabama’s unanimously handed HB 330 requires private and non-private non-profit establishments of upper schooling to submit annual experiences (disclosing the identical data supplied to federal businesses) to the governor and legislative schooling committees on funding obtained from China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Qatar, and others designated by the State Division.
Two resolutions have been adopted, each in Louisiana. SCR 5 requests “state and local law enforcement agencies to cooperate with federal authorities in discovering and closing clandestine branches of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security serving as secret police stations” in the USA.
In January 2024, Louisiana Republican state consultant Charles Owen sparked controversy and broader discussions about balancing nationwide safety considerations with tutorial variety after he requested data from three main state college techniques about departments with a majority of tenured school holding inexperienced playing cards from China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Lebanon, or Pakistan. Owen claimed that outcomes of the inquiry involved him significantly, noting: “In more than one location, we have a majority of faculty members from threat nations in particular departments on our campuses.”
Regardless of initially stating he wouldn’t file laws on the difficulty in 2024, Owen launched Home Concurrent Decision 68 in April, urging and requesting heightened scrutiny in hiring school from overseas adversaries. It was transmitted to increased schooling management statewide after passing the Louisiana Home with 67 out of 68 Republicans and 12 out of 21 Democrats in help and passing the Senate unanimously.
California’s AB 3027, which handed the Meeting unanimously in Might and is pending within the Senate, declares it a state coverage to guard people and organizations in opposition to transnational repression. It’s the primary state-level invoice aimed toward addressing the difficulty. AB 3027 requires the Workplace of Emergency Providers to develop a transnational repression recognition and response coaching, to incorporate figuring out ways, greatest practices for legislation enforcement prevention and response, and details about focused communities and misinformation perpetuated by overseas governments, by July 2026.
Hawai‘i’s HR 204, whereas failed, aimed to name for an finish to the free distribution of China Day by day inside state authorities.
Human Rights
24 measures associated to PRC human rights points – together with 10 regarding pressured organ harvesting, seven centered on Uyghur pressured labor, three addressing spiritual repression, two pertaining to Hong Kong, in addition to two concerning Tibet, Uyghur pressured labor, and non secular repression – have been launched in 2024.
Utah enacted the unanimously handed SB 262 in Might 2024, prohibiting medical insurance from protecting organ transplants if the operation is carried out or the organ is procured from China or different international locations identified to take part in pressured organ harvesting. Idaho Governor Brad Little signed the likewise unanimously handed H 176 with related provisions, efficient July 2024. The Idaho legislation additionally bans the usage of genetic sequencing tools from overseas adversaries, together with the PRC, and permits affected amenities to request reimbursement for replacements. HB 2504, the Arizona Ending Organ Harvesting Act, was vetoed by Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs, who famous that whereas she understood the invoice’s intentions, the overly broad provisions regarding genetic sequencing tools pose compliance difficulties.
The one Uyghur pressured labor measure enacted is Utah’s HB 404, prohibiting sister metropolis ties with areas having pressured labor amenities and bars state know-how contracts with corporations managed by the governments of China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia, efficient Might 2024.
The concluding article on this collection will evaluate correlations between China-related legislative measures and federal actions, bilateral occasions, and cross-state dynamics from 2023 to 2024, in addition to briefly discover developments that emerged over this two-year interval.
Acknowledgements
This analysis was carried out with help from the International Coverage Analysis Institute’s Templeton Fellowship. I’m grateful to Prof. Jacques deLisle, Dr. Kyle Jaros, Dr. Sara Newland, Dr. Matthew Erie, Dr. Christopher Carothers, Prof. Ryan Scoville, Connor Fiddler, and an nameless reviewer for his or her suggestions through the analysis course of and/or on earlier drafts. All errors are my very own.
