Monthly Archives: May 2023

A real estate brokerage and Chinese citizens have sued Florida over the prohibition from real property ownership. The bill would require Chinese citizens, who currently own property in the state, to register those properties with the state. A violation is punishable by fines, criminal charges and imprisonment. 13 states have similar laws on the books. […]

Lawmakers in North Dakota asked the state Attorney General to investigate a CO2 pipeline alleging that the company has “some of the investment in the project comes from foreign countries, including China.” Connecting the dots… thus these foreign powers have the power of eminent domain. AG Week | Lawmakers seek AG investigation into Summit Carbon […]

Idaho signed an agreement with the Federal government and indigenous tribes for the state to take greater responsibility over the wildlife-urban interface, the area most often the source for wildfires. The International Code Council has a wildland-urban interface code. But, most woodland urban areas in Idaho have not adopted it. Governing | Idaho Agrees to Take […]

How do you encourage construction of affordable housing? In 2021, Connecticut decided it would speed things along by passing a bill that prevents zoning rules from considering population density and character of the community.

Reasonable minds say that more affordable housing is needed. However, changing zoning laws isn’t easy when your voting constituents favor NOT IN MY BACKYARD (NIMBY). The answer? Some think it’s going to be state preemption of local zoning regulations that require affordable housing to be built. Potential winners? Affordable Housing developers. Route Fifty | Will […]

Chattanooga Tennessee spent 1 year studying short term rental rules, and adopted rules this week. The new rules will limit new short term rentals to commercial areas that allow hotels. Supporters say the new rule will help enforcement with illegal short term rentals and will help prevent vacation rentals from overrunning local communities. Chattanooga Times […]

Colorado law enforcement have been using reverse keyword search warrants that allow law enforcement officers to see what people have been searching on google. An attorney with the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers says “The keyword warrant here made Google search everybody who searched for anything over the course of more than two weeks.” Attorneys […]

States are looking to curb youth homelessness by collecting better data, providing training for educators to identify homeless students, and  establishing formal positions to support students and their families. Route Fifty | States Take Up Bills to Confront Youth Homelessness

Once upon a time eminent domain was an issue to preserve the Oakland Raiders. Today people are talking about Oakland using eminent domain to seize the As stadium. Think of it like divorcing parents fighting over custody, in this case it is custody of the stadium. San Jose Mercury Times | Borenstein: Oakland should seize […]

South Carolina saw a statewide wide regulation of short term rentals come to a full stop. So, what was the winning argument that halted the bill? That the bill was “usurping cities’ self-governing rights.” Post & Courier | Bill limiting short-term rental rules in SC is dead for the year but could resurface in 2024