While many U.S. subnational actors have reciprocated PRC efforts to reconnect, a growing number of governors and state legislators have been proposing and enacting an unprecedented volume of substantive measures aimed at mitigating risks from PRC behavior, predominantly citing security concerns as justification, to fill a perceived policy vacuum. This analysis series examines these latest efforts by presenting notable trends from three original datasets – 167 China-related excerpts identified in 941 state of the state addresses delivered by U.S. governors from 2005 to 2024, as well as 334 China-related measures introduced in 50 U.S. state legislatures in 2023 and over 270 China-related measures proposed in 43 U.S. state legislatures in 2024, systematically coded across 12 variables (including month introduced; status; sponsor partisanship; originating chamber passage vote partisanship; opposite chamber passage vote partisanship; impactfulness; sentiment; China specificity; primary subject, primary issue area(s), primary topic(s) addressed; and volume per state). The research methodology is available here.
The data, combined with illustrative examples of China-related campaign rhetoric employed by candidates in 13 U.S. gubernatorial races from 2022 to 2024 and discussions of dynamics behind these measures, such as drivers, correlations with federal actions, bilateral events, and among states, sheds light on the changing state of U.S. state government perspectives toward China.
Introduction
In 2024, 290 China-related legislative measures (including 271 unique and 19 companion measures) were introduced in 44 states. This volume excludes three measures, including Florida’s S 318, urging the U.S. Secretary of State to condemn the emerging partnership between the Chinese and Cuban governments and the establishment of Chinese espionage and military capabilities in Cuba, which was withdrawn prior to introduction; Wyoming’s HB 183, restricting foreign ownership of state land, which was filed but ultimately not considered for introduction; Indiana’s fiscal bill SB 256, whose amendment banning sister-city and cooperative agreements with prohibited persons (cities, towns, provinces, counties, schools, colleges, or universities located in foreign adversaries (as defined in 15 CFR 7.4) was motivated in part by China-related concerns but was not incorporated in the enacted bill version; and Kansas’ House Substitute for SB 27, whose amendment requiring divestment and prohibiting future investment of state-managed funds in China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Russia while barring state agencies from procuring goods or services from foreign principals associated with these countries was also not eventually incorporated.
268 measures (92.4 percent) were introduced between January and April. Notably, all Texas measures were introduced in November and December. During the week of November 18, Governor Greg Abbott issued three China-related executive orders, directing law enforcement to target harassment of Chinese dissidents in Texas by CCP operatives, requiring state agencies and higher education institutions to implement safeguards against PRC espionage, and instructing state agencies to protect critical infrastructure from PRC cyber threats.
164 measures (56.6 percent) mentioned China explicitly, including 55 (19 percent) that exclusively focused on China and 109 (37.6 percent) that included China among other foreign governments, adversaries, or countries of concern. 120 (41.4 percent) did not mention China directly but would impact PRC interests and/or Chinese communities if enforced. Among them, 79 (27.4 percent) referenced foreign adversaries, countries of concern, and/or restricted entities, while 41 (14.1 percent) broadly mentioned foreign governments, entities, and/or individuals.
Missouri (26), Tennessee (23), New Jersey (20), Florida (18), and Illinois (15) were the top five states for the volume of measures introduced in 2024, followed by Texas (15), Arizona (14), Oklahoma (13), West Virginia (11), and Mississippi (10).
As of January 16, 2025, 47 (16.2 percent) of all measures have been enacted (33) or adopted (14). 35 measures remain pending. Four bills were vetoed. The majority – 198 (68.3 percent), including 32 that passed one chamber but failed in the other – have failed.
A significant majority – 217 (74.8 percent) measures – were sponsored exclusively by Republicans, while 15 (5.2 percent) had lean-Republican sponsorship. Democrats were the sole sponsors of 20 measures (6.9 percent), while 3 (1 percent) had lean-Democrat sponsorship. Only 6 (2.1 percent) received bipartisan sponsorship.
249 measures (85.9 percent) were substantive, 38 (13.1 percent) were symbolic, and 3 (1 percent) were hybrid.
284 (97.9 percent) exhibited an unfavorable sentiment toward China, while only 6 (2.1 percent) were favorable (including three resolutions adopted in Rhode Island and Delaware celebrating Lunar New Year). None was neutral in their stance.
Among 83 measures that received passage votes in the originating chamber (including enacted and vetoed bills, adopted resolutions, and measures that passed one chamber but failed in the other), 57 (68.7 percent) received bipartisan support (39 of which addressed security-related issues), 11 (13.3 percent) received lean-Republican support, 13 (15.7 percent) received only Republican support, while 2 (2.4 percent) received lean-Democrat support.
Among 36 measures that also received passage votes in the opposite chamber, 22 (61.1 percent) received bipartisan support (14 of which addressed security-related issues), 10 (27.8 percent) received lean-Republican support, three (8.3 percent) received only Republican support, while one (2.8 percent) received lean-Democrat support.
Security was the primary subject addressed (220, 75.9 percent), followed by foreign influence and interference (36, 12.4 percent), human rights (24, 8.3 percent), public health and the environment (7, 2.4 percent), and subnational engagement and cultural recognition (three, 1 percent). The following sections highlight key trends in select primary subject and issue areas.
Security
Of 220 security-related measures introduced in 2024, the greatest volume exclusively focused on physical security-related issues (112, 50.9 percent) (including, in particular, foreign land purchase/property acquisition), followed by information security (57, 25.9 percent) and economic security (44, 20 percent). 167 (75.9 percent) were sponsored solely by Republicans. Among 56 measures that received passage votes in the originating chamber, 39 (69.6 percent) received bipartisan support. Among 23 measures that also received passage votes in the opposite chamber, 14 (60.9 percent) received bipartisan support.
Missouri considered the most security measures overall (24), followed by Tennessee (18), Florida (14), New Jersey (13), and Illinois (12). 24 bills have been enacted and seven resolutions have been adopted, while three bills have been vetoed.
Physical Security
Restricting and/or prohibiting foreign land purchase/property acquisition remained the most dominant issue addressed, with 109 measures introduced across 34 states.
13 bills that target China among foreign governments/adversaries, foreign adversaries only, or foreign governments broadly, have been enacted in 12 states, including South Dakota, Idaho, Wyoming, Indiana, Utah, Iowa, Mississippi, Nebraska, Georgia, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. Despite the momentum, as lawsuits in Florida remain pending and legal challenges emerge elsewhere (including Tennessee and Arkansas), some state officials appear to have exercised more caution in their approach.
Hawai’i’s SB 2617 passed the Senate unanimously and garnered thousands of favorable testimonies, but the attorney general opposed it, citing grave constitutional concerns while warning of potential litigation and substantial monetary liability for the state.
Kansas House speaker Dan Hawkins, a Republican, emphasized combating threats from China, specifically drone espionage and foreign land ownership as key state-level national security issues in his rebuttal to Democratic Governor Laura Kelly’s state of the state address in January 2024. In the 2024 session, House 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,” passed largely along partisan lines.
Among its supporters are Republican state representatives Sean Tarwater and Chris Croft. Tarwater said he received 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 stated, “In the face of a 21st Century ‘Cold War,’ it is imperative that we, as a state, take control of our destiny.”
On the contrary, Republican state senator Jeff Longbine described the bill as “so unconstitutional that we’re going to bribe the affected party by paying them back their losses.” Attorney and Democratic state senator Ethan Corson likewise noted he believed the bill would lead to many lawsuits, while Democratic state senator Jeff Pittman urged the legislature to work with the federal government to improve the bill. Governor Kelly vetoed SB 172, citing the negative impact its overbreadth may have on economic development and constitutional concerns about its retroactive provisions.
In Florida, three Democratic legislators introduced H 1455 to modify Florida’s regulations on foreign property ownership by revising the definition of “foreign principal” and amending conditions under which foreign individuals can purchase residential property in the state, notably repealing a specific prohibition on property purchases by the PRC while maintaining restrictions around military installations and adding a requirement for minimum U.S. residency of 183 days. While the bill failed in committee, in a phone call on April 16, 2024, a staffer from the chief sponsor’s district office noted that the office has worked closely with the Florida Asian American Justice Alliance and that the original motivating factor behind the bill was solely focused on China.
Foreign land purchase has also become a campaign issue in state legislative races. In March 2024, a 21-year-old college junior in North Carolina who defeated a 10-year incumbent in the Republican primary highlighted national security and China as a key aspect of his platform. He reportedly proposed “using eminent domain to reclaim” state lands owned by the CCP. In May 2024, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, amid a highly costly re-election campaign, created the House Select Committee on Securing Texas from Hostile Foreign Organizations. When asked to respond to claims made against him by his opponent, including on agricultural land purchase by “hostile nations,” Phelan noted that some U.S. citizens retain Chinese citizenship involuntarily, and certain proposed laws could unconstitutionally prevent them from owning property.
Information Security
Among the 57 information-security related measures introduced, six have been enacted. Among them, Florida’s S 1680 creates a council to monitor new technologies’ development and foreign countries of concern’ exploitation of AI, while H 1363 included a section prohibiting Chinese-made camera systems for state traffic enforcement. Arkansas’ SB 78 and SB 79 prohibit ownership of digital asset mining businesses by countries of particular concern and require existing foreign-controlled operations to divest within one year. Colorado’s SB 151, which received bipartisan support in both chambers, requires telecommunications providers to register with the state’s Division of Homeland Security and remove/replace any equipment manufactured by federally banned entities (such as those deemed national security threats) from their critical infrastructure by January 2025.
Banning the purchase of drones manufactured by designated foreign entities (DJI in particular) was the primary topic addressed, with 13 measures introduced across 11 states, including Oklahoma, West Virginia, Illinois, Arizona, Iowa, Mississippi, Kansas, Utah, Louisiana, Missouri, and Connecticut. Some local law enforcement communities (such as in Connecticut and North Carolina) have expressed concerns about the feasibility of implementing such measures, citing insufficient funding and a lack of effective alternatives. Utah’s SB 135, which passed both chambers with bipartisan support, is the only such state bill enacted. It prohibits government entities from purchasing or operating unmanned aircraft systems manufactured or assembled in China or Russia for inspection of critical infrastructure, effective January 2025.
Kansas’s House Substitute for SB 271 prohibits state procurement of drones with components from China, Russia, or Iran. Governor Laura Kelly vetoed it, citing overly broad definitions and potential burdens on law enforcement agencies. She suggested alternative approaches through existing procurement processes could address the underlying concerns more effectively. The Senate attempted but failed to override the veto.
TikTok and/or ByteDance was the second primary topic addressed, with 13 measures (including 11 exclusively focused on TikTok and two addressing both TikTok and WeChat) introduced in 11 states. None has passed.
Economic Security
44 economic security-related measures were introduced in 21 states. 32 were sponsored solely by Republicans.
Arizona’s SB 1340, titled the “Foreign Adversary Divestment Act,” passed both chambers with only Republican support. It prohibits publicly managed funds from investing in foreign adversaries and requires divestment of prohibited holdings within two years. Governor Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, vetoed the bill, describing it as “detrimental” to the state’s economic growth and investment portfolio.
Three bills have been enacted. Florida’s H 7071, which passed both chambers unanimously, prohibits the State Board of Administration (SBA) from acquiring direct holdings in companies majority-owned by the Chinese government, the Chinese Communist Party, the Chinese military, or any combination thereof. The SBA must review its current direct holdings by June 2024 to identify any securities, develop a divestment plan by September 2024, and complete divestment by September 2025.
Idaho’s H 665, which passed both chambers unanimously, requires the state treasurer to prepare a report by January 2025 on the amount of state-managed funds invested in any foreign adversary, state-owned enterprise, or company domiciled in or controlled by a foreign adversary, as of June 2024. Kansas’s HB 2711, which passed the House with bipartisan support and passed the Senate with lean-Republican support, requires the state treasurer to prepare a report by January 2025 on the amount of state-managed funds invested in foreign adversaries, as of June 2024.
Similar divestment assessment measures and divestment mandates that either exclusively focus on PRC entities or include China among foreign adversaries have been proposed but failed in Alabama, Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee, and Oklahoma, while remaining under consideration in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania state senator and former MAGA Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano began circulating a legislative memo expressing intent to begin divesting all public funds from China in November 2023. The initiative garnered immediate support from state treasurer Stacy Garrity (R), who is seeking re-election, noting she had divested Treasury holdings from China in 2022. Two local newspapers subsequently published editorials endorsing the move. Mastriano introduced SB 1141, the China Divestment Act, in April 2024.
West Virginia’s HB 4364 aims to prohibit state contracts with companies tied to or benefit foreign entities with values antithetical to the state’s, including China. While it failed to move forward in the 2024 legislative session, in April 2024, state treasurer Riley Moore (R), who was running for Congress at the time, announced that the West Virginia College and Jumpstart Savings Programs’ board of trustees voted to exclude China from the SMART529 Select Plan’s emerging markets investment option, a move he began exploring in late 2021. Moore noted that doing so would maximize returns while reducing exposure to regulatory and geopolitical risks. (Moore was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in November 2024.)
Bills that aimed to ban contracts with entities owned or operated by China and other foreign adversaries failed in Iowa, Tennessee, Georgia, and Arizona. Bills that sought to prohibit procurement from these entities failed in Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Maryland, and Oklahoma.
Foreign Influence and Interference
33 measures concerning foreign influence and interference were introduced, including 12 focused on influence in education and 12 addressing influence in politics.
Six bills have been enacted. Among them, Indiana’s fiscal bill HB 1120 included a provision prohibiting sister city or any cooperative agreement with a prohibited person, defined as a city, town, province, county, school, college, or university located within a foreign adversary (per 15 CFR 7.4). Indiana’s HB 1179, which exclusively targeted the PRC when introduced but was amended to remove the explicit mention of China, requires disclosure of gifts from foreign adversaries and bans intellectual property transfer to prohibited foreign entities. Alabama’s unanimously passed HB 330 requires public and private non-profit institutions of higher education to submit annual reports (disclosing the same information provided to federal agencies) to the governor and legislative education committees on funding received from China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Qatar, and others designated by the State Department.
Two resolutions have been adopted, both 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 United States.
In January 2024, Louisiana Republican state representative Charles Owen sparked controversy and broader discussions about balancing national security concerns with academic diversity after he requested information from three major state university systems about departments with a majority of tenured faculty holding green cards from China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Lebanon, or Pakistan. Owen claimed that results of the inquiry concerned him greatly, noting: “In more than one location, we have a majority of faculty members from threat nations in particular departments on our campuses.”
Despite initially stating he wouldn’t file legislation on the issue in 2024, Owen introduced House Concurrent Resolution 68 in April, urging and requesting heightened scrutiny in hiring faculty from foreign adversaries. It was transmitted to higher education leadership statewide after passing the Louisiana House with 67 out of 68 Republicans and 12 out of 21 Democrats in support and passing the Senate unanimously.
California’s AB 3027, which passed the Assembly unanimously in May and is pending in the Senate, declares it a state policy to protect individuals and organizations against transnational repression. It’s the first state-level bill aimed at addressing the issue. AB 3027 requires the Office of Emergency Services to develop a transnational repression recognition and response training, to include identifying tactics, best practices for law enforcement prevention and response, and information about targeted communities and misinformation perpetuated by foreign governments, by July 2026.
Hawai‘i’s HR 204, while failed, aimed to call for an end to the free distribution of China Daily within state government.
Human Rights
24 measures related to PRC human rights issues – including 10 concerning forced organ harvesting, seven focused on Uyghur forced labor, three addressing religious repression, two pertaining to Hong Kong, as well as two regarding Tibet, Uyghur forced labor, and religious repression – were introduced in 2024.
Utah enacted the unanimously passed SB 262 in May 2024, prohibiting health insurance from covering organ transplants if the operation is performed or the organ is procured from China or other countries known to participate in forced organ harvesting. Idaho Governor Brad Little signed the likewise unanimously passed H 176 with similar provisions, effective July 2024. The Idaho law also bans the use of genetic sequencing equipment from foreign adversaries, including the PRC, and allows affected facilities to request reimbursement for replacements. HB 2504, the Arizona Ending Organ Harvesting Act, was vetoed by Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs, who noted that while she understood the bill’s intentions, the overly broad provisions concerning genetic sequencing equipment pose compliance difficulties.
The only Uyghur forced labor measure enacted is Utah’s HB 404, prohibiting sister city ties with areas having forced labor facilities and bars state technology contracts with companies controlled by the governments of China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia, effective May 2024.
The concluding article in this series will review correlations between China-related legislative measures and federal actions, bilateral events, and cross-state dynamics from 2023 to 2024, as well as briefly explore trends that emerged over this two-year period.
Acknowledgements
This research was conducted with support from the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s Templeton Fellowship. I am grateful to Prof. Jacques deLisle, Dr. Kyle Jaros, Dr. Sara Newland, Dr. Matthew Erie, Dr. Christopher Carothers, Prof. Ryan Scoville, Connor Fiddler, and an anonymous reviewer for their feedback during the research process and/or on earlier drafts. All errors are my own.