Welcome to the Future!
California Governor Jerry Brown vetoed a bill that would have funded acquisition of a beach access point.
The reason for the veto? While the bill provided a means for beach access the bill precluded eminent domain.
Why does Governor Brown say the state needs Eminent Domain for this beach access issue?
State: North Dakota
What happened with this land to trigger this bill? The landowners say that the state took their oil and gas mineral rights from property acquired by the federal government for the construction of the Garrison Dam. The State Supreme Court agreed.
What was the Legislative fix? To except mineral rights from land transactions by the state as it relates to the dam project
The Bill: North Dakota SB 2134 (2017)
Bismark Tribune via Dickinson Press | Family ‘elated’ over ND…
In Tennessee, the Jefferson County Economic Development Oversight Committee, a group of elected officials, recommended spending tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer money to begin development on an industrial megasite.
Word spread that the Jefferson County Economic Development Oversight Committee was talking about using eminent domain to acquire land for the industrial megasite.
Open Records requests followed. A Tennessee appeals court ruled this week that open records laws applied…
A federal judge in Indiana has ruled that seizing cars with civil forfeiture is an unconstitutional violation of due process and the 5th and 14th amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
The court stressed the hardship of losing one’s car for months without a conviction.
Southern District of Indiana No. 1:16-cv-02980-JMS-DML
Court: Illinois Supreme Court
The Ruling: to be able to receive the power of eminent domain in Illinois, a utility must own real property, and the transmission line companies at issue do not own real property in Illinois.
Is there a way for the project to move forward: Yes, if the comapnies move forward as private companies without the power of eminent domain
If a tree overhangs into your neighbor’s property and causes damage, are you liable?
More trees and property rights issues to ponder.
Add another federal lawsuit to the list of whether pipelines consistite a public use that triggers eminent domain for private entities.
The new lawsuit is in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia.
4 States have expereinced different reactions ont he same topic- pipelines & eminent domain:
…
What is a data trespass law? While it sounds like data security, these laws create a crime against physically entering land to acquire data like pollution or animal cruetly.
Are data trespass laws constititional? Maybe not. A Federal Appeals court has found a Wyoming law likely violates the 1st Amendment.
Who is for these laws? Land owners, members of the Farm Bureau
Who is against these laws? People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Center for Food Safety, National Press Photographers…
In a nod to the Denbury case, land owners across the east coast are suing FERC in federal court over whether pipelines have a public use that justifies eminent domain authority.
What to watch:
The Texas Supreme Court this week refused to take an appeal on the City of Austin billboard fee.
Lawyers, courts- their words are like teachers in a Peanuts cartoon. What does this mean?