Overview
This year has seen a wave of proposed bills in state legislatures across the United States aimed at regulating foreign-influenced political activity at the state level. While legislation varies from state to state, their shared goal is to bring transparency to political activity by foreign entities or countries or to target influence activities undertaken by certain foreign governments. While stylized to mirror portions of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), in reality, many of these laws are broader than FARA and lack the core exemptions that companies may have grown accustomed to relying upon.
FARA, enacted in 1938, is a federal disclosure statute that requires "foreign agents" to register with the Attorney General and follow onerous disclosure requirements. Between 1966 and 2015, the Department of Justice (DOJ) brought only seven criminal prosecutions under FARA. However, since 2016, there has been a surge in prosecutions, including some high-profile cases. Due to FARA's broad disclosure requirements and various exemptions, ambiguity persists regarding the scope of the statute’s requirements. This surge in FARA enforcement activity has sparked interest in regulating foreign agent activity at the state level.
FARA Exemptions
FARA contains various exemptions that allow certain persons to be exempt from registration and disclosure requirements. Some of the most frequently used exemptions are the:
- Commercial Exemption: exempting private and nonpolitical activities in furtherance of bona fide trade or commerce of a foreign principal, as long as the activities do not directly promote the public or political interests of the foreign government, and exempting other activities not serving predominantly a foreign interest.
- Legal Exemption: exempting certain activity by attorneys in connection with specific proceedings, investigations, and inquiries.
- Lobbying Exemption: exempting certain individuals registered under the federal Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) if the agent has engaged in lobbying activities and the representation is not on behalf of a foreign government or a foreign political party.
The proposed state-level FARA bills often lack these exemptions, leading to a broader application and wider scope of individuals potentially subject to registration.
Overview of New Baby-FARA Bills
Several states this year, including Georgia, Indiana, Missouri, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Utah, introduced their own FARA legislation, and five states – Arkansas, Nebraska, Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma – signed into law FARA legislation. These laws apply only to a subset of countries, typically those designated as foreign adversaries or hostile foreign principals. No state law currently applies broadly to all foreign governments, although some legislative proposals, such as California’s SB 1151 from the last legislative session, have aimed to do so.
- Arkansas: Arkansas enacted House Bill 1800 on April 22, 2025, making it one of the first states to adopt a state-level FARA law. Under the law, effective August 5, 2025, individuals acting under the order, request, or under the direction or control of a “hostile foreign principal” must register with the Arkansas Secretary of State if the individual’s actions are financed in whole or in part by the hostile foreign principal and the individual is engaged in political activities. A “hostile foreign principal” includes the governments, political parties, or political members of China, Russia, North Korea, or Iran, “nonresident alien[s]” of those nations, and corporations and entities organized under the law of or having its principal place of business in those nations. Additionally, foreign-supported political organizations, including political parties and domestic partnerships, corporations, associations, and organizations, that have received money or support from hostile foreign principals within the past five years and engage in political activity must also register. The Arkansas law notably lacks any exemptions, meaning all those meeting the criteria must comply, even in instances of regular commercial activity or legal advocacy. In light of the robust sanctions regimes regarding Russia, North Korea, and Iran, in practice, this law is most likely to have its broadest application as to anyone acting under the direction or control of the government of China.
- Louisiana: Louisiana signed House Bill 686, which will become effective December 1, 2025. This law requires any person who engages in lobbying in the state on behalf of a foreign adversary to register with the Board of Ethics. Under the law, “foreign adversary” includes China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela’s Maduro government, and entities headquartered or with their principal place of business in those countries, as well as any individual, corporation, or government listed in the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control’s database. It doesn’t include entities subject to a qualified divestiture under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act or entities with an active registration in the federal procurement system. There is no minimum activity or spending threshold for registration, and there are no exemptions available, meaning any lobbying on behalf of such entities triggers the requirement.
- Nebraska: Nebraska’s Legislative Bill 644, effective October 1, 2025, requires registration for agents of foreign principals from adversarial nations or foreign terrorist organizations to register with the Attorney General. Here, the term “adversarial nation” includes China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela’s Maduro government. There is no minimum activity or spending threshold for registration, meaning engaging in any covered activity on behalf of a foreign principal triggers the requirement. While the bill includes an exemption for representations in legal proceedings, it does not include the commercial and lobbying exemptions provided by FARA.
- Oklahoma: Oklahoma House Bill 2762, effective November 1, 2025, prohibits an individual from lobbying for compensation to influence state laws or the award of state funds that may apply to or benefit international corporations unless the individual registers as an “international corporation agent.” There is no minimum activity or spending threshold for registration, meaning any lobbying on behalf of such entities for any compensation triggers the requirement. Persons covered under the provisions of a national security agreement with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. would be exempt from registration.
- Texas: Effective September 1, 2025, House Bill 119 requires anyone who communicates directly with one or more members of the state’s legislative or executive branches on behalf of a foreign adversary, foreign adversary client, or foreign adversary political party to register as a lobbyist. The law defines these terms broadly, covering not only a foreign government designated as a foreign adversary by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce (i.e. China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela's Maduro government), but also any company or subsidiary that has its principal place of business in a foreign adversary country, as well as any corporation, business, or other entity formed by, or for the benefit of, a former official, executive, or officer of a foreign adversary. . Further, registrants are prohibited from accepting any compensation from a foreign adversary, foreign adversary client, or a foreign adversary political party on whose behalf the registrant lobbies. HB 119 does not include a commercial exemption for purely commercial activities.
States to Watch
- Illinois: SB 2371 creates Illinois' own "Foreign Agents Registration Act," requiring foreign agents from "countries of concern" (China, Russia, Iran, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, Syria) to register with the Attorney General. Similar to FARA, Illinois' legislation includes exemptions for diplomatic and consular officials and certain legal representations by attorneys. Illinois has a two-year legislative session, and so this legislation may carry over into 2026.
- Tennessee: For the past few years, Tennessee has introduced its own "baby-FARA" legislation. In 2024, Tennessee introduced House Bill 1854, which would have required an agent of a foreign principal from a country of concern to register with the attorney general. In 2025, Tennessee introduced similar legislation, Senate Bill 317 and parallel House Bill 471, prohibiting a person from acting as an agent of a hostile foreign principal unless the person registered with the Tennessee Ethics Commission. These bills ultimately did not advance in the 2025 legislative session; however, the Senate bill has been deferred to the first calendar of 2026.
The recent wave of baby-FARA bills introduced across U.S. states signals a growing determination to address foreign influence that intersects with sanctions laws and is driven by various geopolitical pressures. However, the potential patchwork of inconsistent state laws risks creating multiple complex and uncertain regulatory regimes for disclosing foreign agent activity across the country. These efforts also go hand-in-hand with state level efforts to restrict foreign influence in state and local elections.
Jason Abel, Partner; Adie J. Olson, Partner; Claire Rajan, Partner, and Elizabeth Goodwin, Associate, at Steptoe, headquartered in Washington, D.C.
