Monthly Archives: January 2015

Lege Trend: Tea Party & Bipartisan Support for Eminent Domain Constitutional Amendment

What does the North Carolina Tea Party Backed, Bipartisan Supported, Constitutional Amendment do?

  • Prohibit condemnation of private property for any reason other than a public use.
  • Require just compensation when condemnation procedures are used, and
  • Allow for parties to demand a jury trial.

It has passed the NC House for 3 sessions, but stumbles with a 3/5ths rule in the NC Senate. Posted byadminPosted inactivism, compensation, legislation trend, private property rights

Lege Trend: Royalties to Landowner for Pipeline Easement

Massachusetts State Rep. Stephen Kulik, D-Worthington filed HD 3168 would require:

  • a 12.5% royalty on natural gas transported on a pipeline through the state; IF
  • the natural gas is later sold to a foreign country

Supporters Say:  “The idea is to reimburse people for the taking, because eminent domain is for the public good, not private profit. It’s one thing if it’s for domestic use, and another…

Bills Target Utilities.

In an effort to keep utilities off private lands for surveying, bills in Virginia look to reign in the ability to survey within eminent domain powers.  

Democrats are lining up to defend the utilities right to access private lands. Republicans are lining up on the other side. 

Republicans also want utilities with eminent domain authority subject to open records. Watchdog.org

Information Intelligen…

Eminent Domain is Needed. How to Stop Land Speculation in Eminent Domain.

A list of why eminent domain is necessary is not something that occurs with frequency. A law professor lists reasons why eminent domain is necessary in Detroit:

  • Eminent Domain worked in the past to build factories that still function
    • Look at the  GM Hamtramck Assembly Plant and the Chrysler Jefferson Avenue North Assembly Plant
    • Detroit has collected hundreds of millions of dollars of property and income tax revenue from the plants and their workers

Billboards & City of Houston In Talks

Billboards and the City of Houston have a long history. Like a love affair that thrives on disagreements. The love lasts, but it is a roller coaster.  

New movement in this relationship. The City & 3 billboard companies (Outfront Media, SignAd &  JGI) are in talks to address what the city calls, billboard blight. The bargaining chip offered by the CIty: 

  • Voluntary removal of billboards- Keep 1 sign for the next 20 years, if you remove 2 signs.

 

Legal Trend Meets LegislativeTrend: Land Owners Challenge Constitutionality. Later Challenge Eminent Domain.

Providing great material for 2015 bills in Texas, The Nebraska Supreme Court, making reference to Denbury, issued an opinion on the constitutionality of a pipeline certification.  Read More: Information Intelligence 

The Court said we don’t like it, but that pesky super majority threshold to declare the statute unconstitutional isn’t …

Legal Trend: NE SCT Clears Way for Pipeline. Mentions Landowners Success in Denbury.

The landowners trying to stop Keystone XL in Nebraska were dealt a blow in the Friday, January 9th, ruling of the Nebraska Supreme Court. Landowners won a majority of the Court, but not  super majority. Highlights:

  • Pg. 38: the NE Court cites Denbury.
    • Writing: ” The Texas Supreme Court has addressed this issue in the context of pipeline carriers.150 It reversed a court of appeals’ decision that a property owner could not challenge a common carrier certification by a pu…

TPPF: Eminent Domain Recommendations 2015

TPPF’s legislative recommendations for eminent domain include:

  • Grant property owners the right to repurchase their property if the initial use of a property acquired from them through eminent domain is not the public use for which the property was acquired.
  • Ban the initial use of property acquired through eminent domain for any use other than the use for which it was acquired. 
  • Change all references to in…