LAND USE & PROPERTY RIGHTS

SB 522 (2021 | FL) will preempt local regulations including specifically inspection and licensing.

What will rental platforms have to do under this bill?

• Quarterly reports for tax purposes
• Comply with state tourism laws

The Center Square | Revived vacation rental bill signals renewed Florida preemption push

Florida Politics | Vacation rental preemption left Ron DeSantis cold, but it’s back in 2021

One of the contractors of California’s high speed rail sent a letter to the states’s high speed rail authority explaining state delay in obtaining land (via eminent domain) is slowing down the rail.

It’s years behind schedule and billions and billions above cost estimates.

Los Angeles Times | Contradicting State, Bullet Train Contractor Reveals Delays

Study authors:  Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute, Texas Water Resources Institute and Texas Land Trust Council

What’s a conservation easement?

• a voluntary agreement between a landowner and a qualified non-governmental organization or government entity
• the landowner still owns the land
• the landowner remains in charge of its day-to-day management
• the landowner commits to minimize or avoid certain types of non-agricultural development on their property by selling or donating some property rights
• The land trust or public entity holding the easement monitors the property to ensure the terms are upheld in perpetuity.

How is value derived from these easements?

• $2.9 million in agricultural commodities.
• $7.3 million in water replacement costs.
• $170,400 in wildlife consumptive uses.
• A 27:1 return on investment.
• A 10:1 leveraging ratio.
• A $148 avg. per acre state investment.
• 86% of projects were leveraged to get funding support beyond landowner contribution.

Texas A&M Today | Report: Conservation Easements Yield Financial, Ecological Benefits

AirBnB has taken 2 positions:

• To cancel rentals in the Washington D.C. area during the Presidential Inauguration
• To ban from its platform “numerous individuals” either associated with known hate groups or found to have been involved in the Capitol riot

What circumstances led to this decision?

• the Capitol area is on a high security alert
• D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam issued statements asking people to stay away

What compensation will be provided?

• refunds will be paid to those who had reserved rentals
• hosts will be compensated for losses

Route Fifty | Airbnb Cancels Rentals in Washington, D.C. Region for Inauguration Week

Add Portland, Oregon to the list of cities making up for past uses of eminent domain that disproportionately impacted Black neighborhoods.

What are the basics of the Portland Program?

•  $67 million initiative
• construction of 40 to 50 new single-family homes
• construction of at least another 300 apartments to rent
• create a hub for emerging small businesses owned by Black people and other people of color 
• funded by extending by two years the diversion of some property taxes from a certain area 

The Oregonian | Portland will build new homes, apartments, business incubator designed to benefit Black Portlanders

HB 448 (2021 | TX) would allow property owners, whose land is treated by eminent domain by a private entity regulated by the Texas Railroad Commission (read: pipelines), to sue that pipeline if it violated the Landowner Bill of Rights or its spirit.

What does this mean? If the company is using the Land Owner Bill of Rights to harass, intimidate, or otherwise mislead – yeah, that qualifies.

The Attorney General can also seek civil recovery under this bill.

Huntsville Item | Texas legislative session begins next week with COVID-19 changing normal process

Where: Monterey County California

Who do you win this chance to use eminent domain? Win the vacant seat on the  Monterey Peninsula Water Management District. 

How is  Monterey Peninsula Water Management District using eminent domain? Buying the water system of the Monterey Peninsula from its private owner, California American Water.

How big of a deal is this? If successful, it is said to be valued at over $1 Billions and the largest value use of eminent domain in history

Monterey County Weekly | Enter this contest for your chance to pursue eminent domain involving a multibillion-dollar corporation.

What do I need to know about Amazon’s program to fund affordable housing solutions near its offices in Virginia, Tennessee and Washington?

• Amazon is outing $2 Billion into the effort
• 20,000 affordable homes will be preserved or created in the Arlington, Va.; Nashville, Tenn.; and Seattle areas
• Funding options will be in the form of below-market capital in the form of loans, lines of credit and grants

Tech companies have faced criticism over driving up home prices in the Bay Area that displaced longtime residents

The Hill | Amazon to spend $2 billion on housing near key company offices

COVID lockdowns were they compensable as a taking of property? The courts will decide. Legislatures will dance around it in 2021. Some states are utilizing COVID funds to reimburse small businesses that experienced Rioter/Looter damage.

Property rights issues ran the gamut from the impact of Black Lives Matter in historical property acquisition, to how eminent domain is more cost effective than building new affordable housing in LA, and to creating property rights in your data. 

As we’re all eating outside more to keep our local restaurants alive,  ALEC has model mobile food vendor legislation. 

South Padre Island, TX had set limits on the number of food truck permits at 12 and required permission from a restaurant owner.

How did South Padre Island get there? Until 2016, the island banned food trucks. Then with local restaurant lobbying adopted the cap and approval requirement.

Similar rules have been overturned in  San Antonio, El Paso and Louisville.

Institute for Justice