Should Foreign Adversaries Own U.S. Land?

Social Worker (Gov.) Hobbs attempts to frame herself as a domestic security hawk...

Prescott, AZ July 10, 2025

SPOILER ALERT: This article is primarily directed to Arizona voters…

Earlier this year, the Veto Queen of the West, Social Worker (Gov.) Hobbs of Arizona vetoed yet another sound public policy bill that the Legislature viewed as a national security move in line with the Trump administration. For the record, Hobbs has boasted often and vociferously that she has vetoed more bills than any past governor.

On June 2, 2025, the Veto Queen informed the Senate President of her veto action…

“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.”

When one reads the veto statement and compares it with the plain language of the law, you have to wonder if she understands the separation of authorities between state and federal government, and whether she actually read the bill. Could it be that Hobbs, like Joe Biden, profiteer-in-chief, is more worried about foreign “property ownership rights” than she is about national —read domestic— security?

Upon her veto, criticism was swift and harsh from all political stripes, to the extent that Hobbs herself attempted to walk back her position seven days later, claiming she had a plan. But wait, if she had a plan, then why did she wait until the Legislature was out of session to put it forward? She surely watched the Legislature debate the bill's content as it made its way through the process. She could have reached out to the Senate to make suggestions, but she did not. So save me the feigned righteous indignation, madam. You said nothing when it would have mattered.

The Senate voted to pass the bill that was sent to Hobbs, along party lines, with several Democrats not voting. While Hobbs claims the bill was weak, take notice that every Democrat voted against it, or didn’t vote at all, not because it was weak, but because they saw no need for it at all.

On June 9, 2025, presumably after having her a$$ handed to her by outraged constituents, including Democrats, Hobbs announced that she had a far more restrictive bill than the Senate had sent her. In fact, her veto letter referenced nothing that was in her June 9th statement about a version that the Legislature would have been more than happy to pass. The veto statement was as benign as vanilla pudding.

SB1109, with the short title ‘designated countries; land ownership; prohibition,’ would have prohibited a foreign principal from a designated country (designated by the DNI) from purchasing, owning, leasing, acquiring by grant or devise, or having a substantial interest in real property in Arizona, except as specified.

The federal government is casting an even wider net on the prohibition. It will ban not just land near military installations, but all land that is used for agricultural purposes. But, while the federal government can pass policy, it is the state that must effectuate the policy. The federal government doesn’t have a recorder, but the counties within the State do.