Georgia Governor Vetoes “Baby” FARA Bill

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has vetoed Georgia Senate Bill 368, which would have created a requirement in state law for certain "agents of foreign principals" to register and report certain lobbying and political activities in Georgia. This is the first of the wave of recently proposed baby FARA bills at the state level, designed to mirror the federal Foreign Agents Registration Act, that made it to a state governor's desk, and also the first to be vetoed. In the Governor's brief veto message, he wrote that "Senate Bill 368 would prohibit foreign nationals from making political contributions, which is already prohibited by federal law, and impose additional state-level registration requirements on agents of foreign principals, some of which were unintended by the bill's sponsor." He indicated that the bill's own sponsor had requested that he veto it.

The Georgia bill, like other proposed state-level baby FARA laws, could have had broad consequences (likely broader than intended) not just for foreign companies but also for U.S. subsidiaries of foreign companies, as well as nonprofits, academic institutions, religious institutions, and others because, unlike the federal FARA statute, it did not include major exemptions intended to carve out at least some entities from the obligation to register. Covington is continuing to track the growing wave of proposed baby FARA bills, including whether the bills in other states meet the same fate as the ill-fated Georgia bill.