Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs has ignited a firestorm with her veto of S.B. 1109, a bill designed to prohibit China from purchasing land near critical infrastructure and military installations. The veto dropped just as concerns over Chinese influence—and outright espionage—are dominating headlines across the country. For Hobbs, the timing couldn’t be worse. And the backlash? Swift, bipartisan, and blistering.
The bill, supported by both Republicans and several Democrats during its amendment process, aimed to bar Chinese government-linked entities from acquiring a 30% or greater stake in Arizona real estate near strategic assets like Luke Air Force Base, the Palo Verde nuclear power plant, and the Taiwan Semiconductor fabrication site. For national security hawks and everyday voters alike, that’s not just a prudent move—it’s common sense.
Governor Hobbs, however, claimed the bill was “ineffective at counter-espionage” and opened the door to “arbitrary enforcement.” Critics weren’t buying it.
“Utterly insane,” said Senate Majority Leader Janae Shamp, accusing Hobbs of hanging an “Open for the CCP” sign on Arizona’s front door. Michael Lucci, CEO of State Armor Action, doubled down, pointing to how proximity alone, especially in asymmetric warfare, creates peril. In a world where drones and sabotage can strike from across the border—or just across the street—that point is far from hypothetical.
Making matters worse for Hobbs, the veto came just as federal authorities announced the arrest of two Chinese nationals—Yunqing Jian and Zunyong Liu—accused of smuggling Fusarium graminearum, a known agroterrorism agent, into the U.S. Their alleged plan? To study the pathogen at the University of Michigan using a university lab as cover. The fungus causes wheat blight and other crop diseases responsible for billions in global agricultural losses and even serious health effects in humans and livestock.
Jian, reportedly backed by Chinese government funding and identified as a loyal member of the Chinese Communist Party, remains listed on the University of Michigan’s website as of this week. DHS and FBI officials involved in the case didn’t mince words: this was a direct threat to national security, thwarted only through aggressive border and customs enforcement.
The Arizona veto, viewed in that broader context, is being cast not as an abstract policy disagreement—but as a dangerous blind spot in real-time. While 22 states have already passed legislation restricting foreign ownership of land—17 of them in 2024 alone—Arizona now finds itself stalled under a governor who says legislation designed to shield strategic assets from Beijing’s reach is just too vague.
But the vagueness isn’t in the bill. It’s in the defense of the veto.
When pressed, Hobbs cited implementation concerns—concerns already addressed by bipartisan amendments. When critics pointed to direct CCP-linked espionage cases like Jian and Liu’s? Silence. And while the governor holds the line, 27 other states are considering 84 bills to do exactly what Hobbs rejected.
Even Congress is acting, with seven federal bills on deck targeting foreign land grabs, including one aimed squarely at Beijing.
It’s a rare moment of alignment between statehouses and the Capitol—but Arizona, once again, finds itself the outlier.
