Should a County take land belonging to a former Y? 69% NO. 31% YES
Where: Maine
Legal Trend. Company Withdraws Lawsuits to Continue Negotiations. 4 Key Points in Legal Strategy.
The Company: Texas Central Rail
The lawsuits: 12+ lawsuits concerning eminent domain, and specifically pre-condemnation access to the privately held land
The strategic advantage of withdrawing the laawsuits: amicable negotiations
The trend being emulated: Private companies promoting negotiations without eminent domain
Dallas Morning News | Bullet Train Developer Drops Lawsuits against Landowners (References the Schwertner bills, SB 626-629)
Construction Dive | TX bullet train developer drops lawsuits against landowners along proposed route
KBTX | High speed rail developer drops lawsuits against landowners
Ft. Worth Star Telegram | High-speed rail developer drops lawsuits against landowners
Eminent Domain Debate 2017. Hollywood with an Assist on the Big Screen
Making the film festival circuit this spring- the Suzette Kelo story starring Oscar nominee Catherine Keener.
The all American elements of the plot:
- Lady owns a little pink house
- Big Pharma wants to expand
- Eminent Domain is used to take the pink house
- Lady fights her way to the Supreme Court & loses but changes eminent domain laws throughout the country.
A film about outsiders fighting the system… Raging against the machine.
Hollywood Reporter | ‘Little Pink House’: Film Review | Santa Barbara 2017
Private Property Rights. Home Sharing Regulations. 5 Keys to Effective Regulations.
A Wharton School of Business, President Trump’s Alma Matter, features an interview with Wharton’s Kevin Wherbach offering these tips and examples to foster nascent industry:
- Look to the FCC and its treatment of Skype. Skype didn’t fit neatly in industry categoried and regulations. FCC VOIP regulations were written such that the door was left open and Skype flourished by working with regulators.
- Don’t rush to impose traditional rules on ride share companies like Uber.
- Anti-trust case against Microsoft allowed other tech companies to innovate
- Data sharing can give regulators more information to achieve their goals and provide more industry friendly regulations
- Consider self-regulation with accountability standards built in
Knowledge@Wharton | How to Regulate Innovation — Without Killing It
3 Attributes of a Private Property Rights Group in a Pipeline State. Billboard Campaign.
The group: 80 Feet is Enough
The group’s message: No Eminent Domain for Private Gain for Oil Pipelines (picture at link)
How are they getting the word out? Billboards
Just the Facts. SB 629. The Eminent Domain Package via Senator Schwertner.
- The author list: Schwertner | Buckingham | Burton | Campbell | Creighton | Hall | Hinojosa | Hughes | Rodríguez | Seliger | Perry
- What it does: Eliminates the addition of interest when agricultural land is converted to a non-agricultural purpose
- What’s the hook? Landowners should be able to choose without penalty (interest) how to use their land
Just the Facts. SB 628. The Eminent Domain Package via Senator Schwertner.
- The author list: Schwertner | Birdwell | Burton | Campbell | Creighton | Hall | Huffines | Kolkhorst | Nichols | Zaffirini
- What it does:
- eliminates acquiring property as progress for a project that qualifies for eminent domain and thus repurchase of the property if the project isn’t moving
- requires a condeming entity to meet 3 of 5 , instead of 2 of 7, elements that define project progress
- What’s the hook? The talk of eminent domain being used for projects but then never coming to fruition. The worst of these: Kelo. The Kelo house land was never put to its intended use and was left unused for years.
Just the Facts. SB 627. The Eminent Domain Package via Senator Schwertner.
- The author list: Schwertner | Birdwell | Burton | Creighton | Hall | Huffines | Kolkhorst | Nichols | Seliger | Zaffirini
- What it does: Sets up rules for precondemnation access such as:
- An owner can refuse entry
- A condeming entity has to pay for damanges done during precondemnation access and inspection
- If a condemning entity uses a permission form, the form has to meet 4 standards
- What’s the hook? Currently pre-condemantion access has very few rules
Land Use. TREND. Easements to preempt government action.
Legal experts at Stanford say which easement would offer property owners protections from fracking:a conservation easement which they’ve named a mineral estate conservation easement (MECE)
What’s not needed for a conservation easement: government regulation
The property value impact of a MECE: the property value is diminished but offset by a tax write-off
Are MECEs permitted in Texas? Yes
Common Refrain in Limiting Eminent Domain for Railways. The 19th Century.
Indiana joins the list of states where private property activists say that railroad eminent domain statutes haven’t been updated since the 19th Century.
K99.3 | Pressel-Sponsored Eminent Domain Bill Passes House