Wisconsin’s attorney general says state law allows non-US interests to own large amounts of land in some cases.
In a formal opinion issued Friday, Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said the law only bans foreign ownership of more than 640 acres of agricultural and forest lands. Van Hollen said the law was changed over 30 years ago to allow foreign land ownership for “almost every conceivable business activity.”
Governor Scott Walker’s proposed state budget from 2013 would have ended the current ban on foreign land ownership, but lawmakers rejected the item. Groups representing Wisconsin farmers and Realtors opposed the measure.
