Michigan House Republicans on Thursday unveiled a series of bills to address foreign influence from the Chinese Communist Party and countries of concern.

“We as a state need to be concerned with … all the examples, the intrusions from foreign entities of concern, specifically the Chinese Communist Party and entities controlled by those folks,” state Rep. William Bruck, R-Erie, said at a Thursday press conference. “We’re going to be looking at things like our drones, the technology, the back doors, the ways and means our utilities are constructed digitally.”

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“There is no longer a welcome mat in Michigan for entities of foreign concern,” said Bruck, chair of a newly formed House Oversight Subcommittee on Homeland Security and Foreign Influence. “We’re taking that welcome mat and we’re throwing it in the trash.”

Several House Republicans outlined their background working in national security, healthcare, intelligence, and the military, and how they’re leveraging those experiences to address a wide range of issues, from the security of health data, to agricultural land purchases by adversarial governments and their proxies.

A 10-bill package, House bills 4233-42, includes legislation to limit public contracts with countries of concern, ensure health data and technology is housed in the U.S. or Canada, ban foreign ownership of agricultural property near military installations, and other protections.

“These countries, they don’t play fair. They’re not going by the rules. They’re trying to use every single lever of power they have to try to undermine countries like the United States that stand for freedom and security in the global world,” said Rep. Bill Schutte, R-Midland, a former intelligence officer with the U.S. Department of Defense.

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“It is so concerning to see those same types of malignant, nefarious activities that we see countries like China and Venezuela do in foreign countries try to take place here in Michigan,” he said.

Lawmakers pointed to numerous examples in recent years, including repeated cyberattacks on the state’s hospitals, Chinese national students attending the University of Michigan charged with espionage at the Camp Grayling military training base, and economic development deals with companies linked to the Chinese Communist Party, such as a planned Gotion battery component plant in Mecosta County and Ford’s partnership with battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.,  at its new BlueOval megasite in Marshall.

The Gotion and CATL projects are backed with over $1 billion in combined taxpayer-funded business incentives that were secretly negotiated by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration and select lawmakers.

U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar, chairman of the House Select Committee on the CCP, has repeatedly called on Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, and the University of Michigan to take action to curb CCP influence in Michigan.

While UM halted its relationship with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, which collaborates with China’s military, Whitmer and Benson have largely ignored Moolenaar’s concerns, despite clear evidence of threats from multiple angles.

In 2023, the Wall Street Journal reported the FBI is aware of over 100 incidents of Chinese nationals gate crashing at sensitive sites across the U.S. in the past three years.

That same year, the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the CCP and the United States heard testimony from former Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center Bill Evania, who told lawmakers he’s “100%” certain the CCP would leverage the Gotion plant for espionage.

Obama Defense Secretary Leon Panetta offered similar testimony to Congress last year.

“I don’t think there’s any question that they are going to take advantage of that situation and I think we have to be very vigilant about what the hell is going on,” Panetta said.

The situation prompted lawmakers to ban the Department of Defense from purchasing products from Gotion, due to parent company Gotion High-Tech’s partnerships with China’s People’s Liberation Army.

In September, the U.S. House also voted unanimously in favor of a similar ban for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

While those and other efforts to limit foreign influence move along in Washington, Michigan Republicans believe “we at the state level can have a role protecting this state from countries of concern,” said Rep. Luke Meerman, R-Coopersville, who noted 80% of municipal routers are made by a country of concern with a proven back door.

“We as a state are taking security, our national security, at a higher level,” Bruck said.