Legislative Alert: HB-1091 First Refusal rights on transfer of
seized property from eminent domain
As expected this year's Legislature has a bumper crop of bills
associated with eminent domain, the power of the government to
forcibly and without your consent seize your property. In our view
the only bills that should be supported are bills that close one or
more of the loopholes that allow abuse by the government - or - that
provide protections to the citizens.
This bill - HB-1091 provides that the government can not seize
your property under the guise of "public use" and then turnaround
and use for the benefit of a private developer within 7 years
without letting you buy it back.
This is a positive step - however we strongly recommend that
your tell your State Representatives and Senators to put a little
more "teeth" in this bill as follows:
- Time period - This bill has a 7 year timeframe. So it would
not apply to government mischief after 7 years. We believe that
there should be no time limit. Property forcibly seized by the
government for stated "public use" should never be converted to
"private use."
- Property price. This bill states that the government has to
offer the original owner the right to purchase the property back
at the condemnation price. We disagree, if the government seizes
property for a stated public use and either does not execute that
specific public use or no longer needs the property for the stated
public use - the property should automatically revert back to the
original owner and the condemnation price be considered a fee paid
for the use of the citizen's property.
One of the main functions of government is to protect the
rights of its citizens, we already have too many laws and loopholes which
tread on the rights of the citizens. There is no excuse, except
pandering to special interests, for the government to ever seize a
citizen's property for a stated reason and then use it for something
else.
Legislator's that pander to special
interests should be replaced.
The bill information follows:
The bill has been assigned to the House Judiciary Committee.
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