Monthly Archives: February 2016

Lege Trend: Licensing of Land Men.

What state is considering licensing land men? Pennsylvania

What requirements are being considered? 

  • land men would be licensed and regulated through the Pennsylvania Real Estate Commission

What was the genesis for this bill? Complaints from landowners that land men were making statements that were untrue about either the impact of a projected pipeline or the power of eminent domain. 

Pennsylvania Senate Bill 991

Reading Eagle | Lawmaker questions conduct of land agents

 

Tarrant County Voices on Eminent Domain. 4 Bits Informed Intel.

In a letter to the editor of the Ft. Worth Star Telegram, a North Texan from the Tea Party rich lands, makes the following points about eminent domain:

  • The land owners had to go to court to get just and adequate compensation.
  • Forcing this into the courts is “either gross incompetence or willful abuse of authority.”
  • its not cool when  the “Rangers initially didn’t want to pay the judgments, insisting this was the city’s (taxpayers’) responsibility. This in spite of being lavished…

Lege Trend: Adding Requirements to Pre-condemnation Access for Private Companies Using Eminent Domain. Bonjour: Oil, Gas, Electric…

Which state is putting in new requirements for pre-condemnation surveying access for private companies that have eminent domain authority? West Virginia

What are the new requirements for pre-condemantion access? To receive pre-condemantion access to private property, the condeming entity must:

  • send a letter via certified mail
  • the letter must be sent 15-to-60 days before the date of the survey

What sparked this bill? A court stopped precondemnation access for surveyors because public…

Lege Trend: 5 year moratorium on private company eminent domain use.

Which state legislature is moving a 5 year moratorium on private company eminent domain use? South Carolina

What motivated this move? The Palmentto pipeline

What is the Legislature required to do in those 5 years? Study the use of eminent domain, specifically as it applies to pipelines. 

Jasper County Sun Times | S.C. Senate approves scaled-back eminent domain bill

 

Private Property Rights TREND: Air Share Regulations. Sharing Economy. INTERIM.

Is air share on a digital platform permitted? In August 2014, the FAA shut down air share, and limits open seats to friends of the pilot only.

What fix is in the works to allow air share? Congressman Mark Sanford added an amendment for air share to the Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Reauthorization Act of 2016 

Americans for Tax Reform | Planesharing Aims for Liftoff Despite FAA Drag
 

INTERIM. Sharing Economy. Private Property. Southern State Strikes Deal on Taxes & Short Term Rentals.

Which Southern state struck a deal with AirBnB? Alabama

Which Alablama taxes will be collected by AirBNB?

  • The state’s Transient Occupancy Tax
  • local lodgings taxes, if the responsibility for collection of those taxes has been assigned to the state’s tax office

is this an outlier tax agreement? No, it follows a model that other states & local taxing jurisdictions have followed

Birmingham Business Journal | Alabama strikes deal with Airbnb on tax collections

Washington Post | Airbnb…

Lege Trend: Moratorium for Eminent Domain for Pipelines. 3 Quick Bits Informed Intel.

  • Georgia is considering HB 1036 which would create a 1 year moratorium to prevent eminent domain by pipelines
  • HB 1036 creates a 13-member commission of experts from business, agriculture, the environment and related fields to review the process, compare notes with how other states do it, and then prepare legislative recommendations by the end of the year.
  • The author, a Republican, wants greater study of eminent domain and environmental issues.

Savannah Now | House bill would delay…

3 Reasons an Ethics Professor Says the Arlington Baseball Stadium Should Have Not Used Eminent Domain

  • A ball park is neither a public use nor a public purpose
  • There is no public benefit of a ball park
    • And, if you try to say there is an economic benfit, he’ll throw studies at you to say that is not true
  • Taking land from one property owner to give it to another so they can make money is no different than Kelo, and that’s what happened in Arlington

–Richard Galvin is the Betty S. Wright Professor in Applied Ethics at Texas Christian University. Star Telegram | Greene got it wrong on use…

Campaign Trend: Shaming Eminent Domain Bills. 4 Bits Informed Intel.

  • The Toth v. Brady Congressional race is a he said/he said brawl over who opposed high speed rail first
  • A Toth mailer says Brady authored & voted for eminent domain for high speed rail as a state representative in 1993
  • Brady says the 1993 bill removed eminent domain from pirvate companies building high speed rail
  • Political Scientists call it grossly inaccurate

Your News Houston |  Brady: Toth high-speed rail mailer a ‘lie’

Fox 26 | Eminent Domain Attack advertisement deemed grossly…

TX Compensation Issue Back in Court. 3 Bits Informed Intel.

What case is this? Bragg v. Edwards Aquifer

What ‘s the eminent domain compensation issue they’re in a legal cage fight about? The courts have agreed that a denial of groundwater pumping by Edwards Aquifer amounted to a taking of a pecan farmer’s private property 

What does it mean for 2017 Legslative action? Adequate and just compensation for th etaking of private land is a perenial issue. And there’s lots bubbling around for 2017:

  •  Last week, informedintel brought you the case of…