Category Archives: 2017 legislative issues

Interim. Private Property Rights. Sharing Economy. Who is responsible for city violations ?

Why is Airbnb is suing the CIty of Anaheim? A local ordinance makes Airbnb liable for short term rental proeprty owners who violate city ordinances.

What violations of local laws are we talking about? the ordinance requires Airbnb to remove unlicensed listings within 10 days of $500 for the first offense, $1,000 for the second offense and $2,000 for a third or subsequent offense.

Is this local law trending? yes, Airbnb also sued San Francisco for fines the city is imposing on the…

Eminent Domain Case of the Year in Texas: The Elbow Room at Texas A&M

The key issue: Business owners, who do not own the business’s property, may be forced into move 

The eminent domain issue: Texas does not recognize a comepnsable value for a tenant business

Do other states compensate a tenant? Yes, look at California

The property in dispute & the project: A new dental school facility at Texas A&M may require that the university acquire the property occuppied by the Elbow Room

Does this sound familiar, a popular establishment near a university facing…

4 Ways Southerns Think about Eminent Domain.

National Geographic’s website has a feature piece entitled, Palmetto Pipeline: An Eminent Problem. Here’s what you need to know:

  • Southerners aren’t opposing pipelines for environmental reasons, but for private property reasons.
  • What didn’t sit well with landowners is that the pipeline can take an easement via eminent domain, leaving the property owner to pay taxes on land that it can’t use because the pipeline is on it.
  • In 2016, government officials denied eminent domain because there was…

Legal Trend. Major State Supreme Court. Compensation for Study and Assessment of Land.

The State: California

The win: Landowners who sought compensation for extensive geological and environmental testing that included:

  • multiple days of precondemantion access to land
  • over a two-year period
  • with the removal of soil borings to 150 and 300 feet

The public works project: A water tunnel under the Bay Delta as part of a new water delivery system

Matteoni, O’Laughlin & Hechtman | California Supreme Court Issues Major Ruling Regarding Landowner Compensation For Those…

INTERIM. 2 Reasons Economic Principles Do Not Support Just Compensation

  • Economic principles do not apply to eminent domain because there is no willing buyer and no willing seller involved in eminent domain
  • Behavorial economics loss aversion shows that people would pay less for other people’s property than they would accept as a purchase price for their property

Bangor Daily News | Eminent Domain, Just Compensation, and a Raw Deal for Homeowners

Sharing Economy. Private Property Rights. Trade Practices Issues can impact Laws & Regs

What trade partcices allegations are being made against short term rentals?

  • discrimination
  • inconsistent tax collections
  • violations of local health and safety regulations

What’s the solution proposed to curb this? Increased data collection of short term rentals with FTC monitoring

What would this look like as city ordinances or state laws? 

  • Data collection requirement by the oversight agency to record ethnicity of renter,
  • Tax collection data linked to the short term rental…

INTERIM. Private Property Rights. Sharing Economy. Local Government Fines Create Lawsuits.

What local government fines are home share platforms facing?

  • In San Francisco, AirBnB and other home sharing services face $1000 per day fine for every unregisered host
  • In New York, fine anyone who rents a whole apartment for fewer than 30 days, which has been illegal in New York since 2010

What’s the basis for the San Francisco lawsuit? 

  • Feeral law prohibits holding websites legally accountable for the acts of their users

New York Times | Airbnb in Disputes With New York and San…

High Speed Rail Expert SayS Eminent Domain is a Subsidy

The Expert: Stanford University economics professor Alain Enthoven

The Subsidy angle: Eminent Domain is a subsidy.

A conservative writer points to Enthoven and 2 other “experts” to support the argument that subsidies will be involved in Texas High Speed Rail.

Ft Worth Star Telegram | Crystal Wright | Is rail company lying about building Texas bullet train without subsidies?