Category Archives: legislation trend

Lege Proposal: Penalize Coercive Eminent Domain Acts. Prohibitions With Teeth.

Ohio lawyers are proposing an enforcement mechanism for bad eminent domain actors.

Why does OH need enforcement for coercive eminent domain? The law has no enforcement mechanism for the prohibition against coercive acts.

What’s the propsed enforcement for bad actors? 

  • Clear cause of action that clearly provide landowners with a private cause of action against condemnors who use coercive tactics or conduct in land acquisitions
  • Monetary penalties
  • Attorney Fees Bad actors should be liable for…

Attorney General Threatens Eminent Domain for Sports Team After Stadium Plan Announced in Other State. 3 Key Points.

The Professional Sports Team: Crew SC, an MLS team in Columbus OH

What is the basis for the eminent domain threat by OH’s Attorney General?  “Art Modell Law” which Ohio passed after the Cleveland Browns moved to Baltimore

What does the Art Modell Law require? A professional sports team that receives taxpayer funds cannot move without approval of the city or without offering the team for sale

Fox 28 | Ohio Attorney General sends letter to Crew SC owner threatening to sue 

RI stadium Bill Reigns in Eminent Domain. Anatomy of a Bill. Read the Bill.

Rhode Island wants to build a new PawSox stadium.

To get to a new stadium, legislators filed S-0990 & S-0989, that included funding requirements, new eminent domain provisions, and reworking the definition of blight.

Public input on the eminent domain provisions & transparency concerns raised by the State Republican Chair, led to the removal of new eminent domain and blight provisions. 

RINPR | Revised PawSox Bill Steers More Revenue To Pawtucket; Outlook In RI House Uncertain

Fox Business…

Lege Trend. Appraisals. Access to Appraise + Eminent Domain. Lessons from the Land of Cheeseheads

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed Assembly Bill 480 that does the following:

  • bars assessors from increasing the assessment of a property solely because the owner refused to let them inside
  • gives owners who did not let assessors into their properties the ability to challenge their assessments

Wisconsin Assembly Bill 480  (2017)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signs bill to expand property rights

Lege Trend. No Eminent Domain for Private Gain in a Lake Effect Snow State. Airports, Trains, Hospitals, oh my!

Illinois House Bill 4150  accomplishes two goals:

  • limits the use of eminent domain to only public uses
  • explicitly removes railroads from public use

 

If a private entity is involved in the project the following 6 steps must occur:

  •  the condemning authority must prove by a preponderance of 
    the evidence     that:

    • (i) the acquisition of the property is necessary for a public purpose;
    • (ii) the acquired property will be owned by the condemning authority or another governmental entity; …

PA Bill to Fund Blight Clean Up. 1 New Fee. 3 Reporting Requirements for Local Government.

PA Act 152 (2016) allows local governmental entities to implement a fee on the recording of deeds and mortgages in certain counties. 

The fee will be dedicated to the local governmental entity’s county demolition funds.

The fee cap: $15

Requirements on local governmental entities that create a demolition fund:

  • Annual report to the Department of Community and Economic Development detailing:
    • ​how the revenue will be spent
    • how many properties will likely be demolished
    • any other…

Lege Trend. Requiring Cities to Include Private Property Rights in Their Development Plans. Read the Bill.

First comes statewide tree ordinances and then come broad private property rights requirements in local governmental entity development plans.

Florida’s HB 207 (2017) would require:

  • require the protection of private property rights in local government comprehensive development plans
  • require a 4 point analysis for local government action:
    •  “Consideration of the impact to private property rights of all proposed development orders, plan amendments, ordinances, and other proposed…

Unusual Eminent Domain Bill. States Buying Professional Sports Franchises.

In 1984 the Maryland Senate passed a bill allowing the state of Maryland to use eminent domain to acquire the Colts.

Why did Maryland want to buy the Colts? To prevent the franchise from leaving.

Did it work? No, before the Maryland House could pass the bill, the owner struck and deal and moved the team to Indianapolis. 

Columbus Dispatch | Michael Arace | Powerful are complicit in Crew move; it’s how the game is played

Private Property Rights. Texas Builders Pushing Against Sprinkler Regulations. 3 Bits informed:intel

Which Texas official is for sprinklers in every residential property? Texas State Fire Marshal

What are the policy agruments of builders?

  • Home owners should be able to choose
  • Texas property values are strong because property remains affordable

What event can supporters point to?

  • A fire that took the life of a former Colleyville, TX mayor and his grandson with a brain injury
  • The mayor’s son believes his son and father would be alive if there had been sprinklers installed.

CBS DFW…

Legal Trend Begets Lege Trend. 2017 U.S. Supreme Court Eminent Domain Ruling Overturned by Lege. Read the Bill.

The Wisconsin Legislature rejected the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Murr v. Wisconsin that permitted regulation on adjacent properties that limited the ability to sell the property.

In response to the June ruling, the Wisconsin Legislature in November passed Assembly Bill 479.

The goal of the bill: to make sure the regulatory schemes that exist when land woners buy property continue to exist. 

The bill is meant to “make sure that when people buy property, and they have expectations related…