Category Archives: 2017 legislative issues

Private Property Rights. 3 Reasons Tiny Houses are often Illegal.

Are zoning laws usually the enemy of tiny houses? Yes. Zoning laws often prevent tiny houses.

  • tiny houses can violate zoning by location
  • tiny houses can be too small to comply with single family residence codes
  • tiny houses can violate codes that require residences be connected to local utilities

What is the argument against allowing tiny houses in zoning ordinances? That property values will diminish by permiting tiny houses

Are tiny houses running amock with building…

Property Rights. Sharing Economy. INTERIM. TREND. Local Short Term Rental Rules from the Midwest.

Which city passed new short term rental rules? Chicago

What was said the councilmembers? 

  • This is about a new economy.
  • Chicago is racing to keep up with new economic drivers.
  • “This is the ‘Jetsons.’ We’re not going back to the ‘Flintstones,'”- Alderman Moreno

How are the new regulations described? “Dizzyingly complex”

What are 5 regulatory highlights?

  • Different types of residences are regulated differently
    • a building with 5 residences, only 1 can be used for short term rental at a…

Sharing Economy. Home Share Regulations. Austin Lawsuit. Be Informed. 5 Bits Intel.

Who filed suit against the City of Austin short term rental ordinance? Texas Public Policy Foundation

What’s the goal of TPPF?  No licenses for property owners who lease out property for less than 30 days

What 2 constitutional rights are alleged in the lawsuit? The Right to Assemble. The Right to Privacy. 

How does TPPF address the argument that short term rentals are nuisances? That the city data does not support the city’s claim that the nuisances warrant special regulation

How…

INTERIM. 4 Ways Eminent Domain is Destroying Texas Landscapes

Let us count the ways that eminent domain is destroying land, irreplaceable landscapes and precious natural resources in Texas:

  • Private companies using land for profit
  • utilities and infrastructure running rampant
  • The proliferation of MUDs
  • MUDs serve private developers 

Wimberley Valley Watershed | How Eminent Domain Abuse is Destroying Texas’ Most Valuable Landscapes

INTERIM. Precondemnation Access. Eminent Domain. The Attorney General Opinion to Answer it All.

The Requestor: Chairman Byron Cook initiated RQ- 0113-KP about Texas Central Rail

The Questions asked of the Attorney General:Do the parties have eminent domain authority to condemn property for Texas High Speed Rail?

The Facts and Statutes key to whether Texas Central Rail has eminent domain power:

  • surveyors have been requesting pre-condemnation access to land to survey for the purpose ofplanning, building, maintaining and operating an electric rail road.
  • pre-condemnation access can…

State Prohibits Eminent Domain by Private Entities. 3 Key Points about the Committee that may Revive Eminent Domain.

Which state legislature has formed a Pipeline study group to recommend eminent domain reform? Georgia in coordination with its year long prohibition on eminent domain by pipelines

What is required of the 13 members of the Pipeline Study Group?

  • Between June- December hold up to 5 hearings
  • Issue a report by December 31, 2016
  • Examine whether petro-pipelines eminent domain powers are:
    • prudently exercised
    • responsibly conducted
    • consistent with the state’s essential public interest

Who…

Campaign TREND. Property Rights Advocates Protest Trump.

Private property rights protestors are protesting a Trump campign fundraiser in Atlanta.

Call it bad timing: The Trump fundraiser is occuring when a national convention of private proeprty rights advocates are gathered in Atlanta for the “Pipelines and Eminent Domain Strategy Session.”

Bold Nebraska | Eminent Domain Advocates to Protest at Trump Rally in Atlanta

INTERIM. Private Property Rights + Sharing Economy. Local Regs from the Northwest.

Which city in the Northwest is proposing new short term rental ordinances? Seattle

The intel you need to know:

What opponents to Seattle’s regulations say:

  • Seattle’s regulations “deprive [Seattle property owners] of our ability to keep ourselves afloat” during hard times
  • Harming people who provide inexpensive accommodations to visitors to Seattle, who then spend money in Seattle
  • Disrupting Seattle’s social fabric by allowing short term rentals that bring people into neighborhoods…

INTERIM. Activist Says TX Lege Will Remove Eminent Domain from Special Districts

What eminent domain issue sparked this activist rebuke? Johnson Ranch MUD approval of eminent domain proceedings against neighboring farm lands

What did the property rights activist say? That the Legislature is ready to remove the power of eminent domain from MUDs.

New Braunfels Herald Zeitung | Activist: MUD should expect eminent domain change