Janae Shamp, AZ Senator | Official Headshot
Janae Shamp, AZ Senator | Official Headshot
Sen. Janae Shamp (R-Surprise) said that organizations linked to countries that are determined to be “direct, serous threats to the United States” have “no business owning or renting land” in Arizona.
“If you're part of an organization in a country that the director of the office of intelligence has determined to be a direct serious threat to the United States?” said Shamp. “Then you have no business owning or renting land or any other property here in Arizona.”
“I’ve sponsored a bill, SB 1403, that will prohibit such entities from directly or indirectly purchasing, leasing, owning, or having any other interest in real property in our state,” said Shamp.
The senator’s comments come after a Grand Canyon Times report showing that 9,892 acres of Arizona farmland, most of it in Maricopa and Pinal counties, is owned by Chinese interests.
Shamp said that members of the Chinese government recently “tried leasing a warehouse” near Luke Air Force Base, located in her district.
SB 1403 would prohibit a “foreign principal from a designated country from, directly or indirectly, purchasing, leasing, owning, acquiring by grant or devising or having any other interest in real property in Arizona.”
“The 2021, 2022 and 2023 Annual Threat Assessments identified China, Russia, Iran and North Korea as countries that pose a risk to the national security of the United States,” said a State Senate Fact Sheet on the bill.
The bill passed the Senate Military Affairs, Public Safety and Border Security Committee on Feb. 14, 2024 on a vote of 6-1 vote. State Sen. Brian Fernandez (D-Phoenix) was the only committee member to vote “no,” even though he is a co-sponsor of the bill.
SB 1403 also is co-sponsored by Sens. Bolick, Carroll, Gowan and Kerr, all of whom are Republican.
Shamp was first elected to represent Arizona’s 29th Legislative District in Nov. 2022. She defeated Democrat David Raymer, winning 59 percent to Raymer’s 41 percent.
A resident of Surprise, Shamp graduated cum laude from Arizona State University and received her nursing degree, also graduating cum laude, from Grand Canyon University.
She is an operating room nurse, and said she was fired from her nursing position for refusing to take the “COVID” MRNA injection.
Arizona’s 29th Legislative District is entirely located within Maricopa County, west and northwest of Phoenix. The district stretches from Litchfield Park in the south to north of Morristown in the north, stopping to the east of Wickenburg. It includes Luke Air Force Base.
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How much land is owned by Chinese interests in your county?
Source: USDA (Detailed data for foreign holdings of U.S. agricultural land through December 31, 2021)
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