Category Archives: eminent domain

Lege Trend Fruition. What happened and didn't happen with high speed rail in Texas Legislature?

  • Bills to stop high speed rail: No
  • High Speed Rail Specific Bills:  2
    • ​ Require reimbursement to local law enforcement for high speed rail security
    •  No State Funding for high speed rail

Response to the legislative action from high speed rail opponents: 

  • Even if no bill stopped high speed rail,
  • The high speed rail porject does not have adewuate funding nor explicit eminent domain authority

Response to legislative action from high speed rail:

““As the Texas Legislature completes its…

3 Steps . 2 North Texas Cities Connecting Via High Speed Rail.

Dallas and Ft. Worth are moving forward with a high speed rail line connecting the two cities. This is how they’re doing it:

  • Creating a  local government corporation with Dallas, an entity that would govern inter-city passenger rail service
  • The local government corporation would own and manage the rail line​
  • The Local government corporation would then control creation, funding and actual construction of the line

The North Central Texas Council of Governments is coordinating the project.

It…

LEGAL TREND. Private Railroads. Pre-condemnation Survey Access. Enjoined. What does it means?

 A legal fight between Texas Central Rail and Grimes County has created an injuntion to ” permanently enjoin [Texas Central Rail]  from performing surveys or other studies which damage, alter or impair county maintained rights of way,”

What Grimes County says it does: prevents Texas Central Rail from exercising precondemantion surveys  & Texas Central Rail does not have eminent domain authority

What Texas Central Rail says it does: Surveys will continue, as they have, and no damage will be…

Sen. Huffines: 5 Reasons High Speed Rail Should have Eminent Domain Power.

  • Population growth requires that innovative transportation be accommodated
  • High Speed Rail proposal is privately funded
  • Private companies exercise eminent domain all the time in Texas with no gross mismangement
  • Private rail has exercised eminent domain for more than 100 years
  • Texas has property owner protections

Dallas Morning News | Why it’s perfectly appropriate to allow a private railroad to use eminent domain

Legal Trend. High Speed Rail. Open Records. Eminent Domain.

Opponent to Texas Central rail are seeking disclosure of Texas Central Railway’s feasibility study held by TXDOT.

What arguments do the opponents make for disclosure?

  • Disclosure should occur because the rail is using eminent domain
  • Disclosure should occur because the rail is going after taxpayer dollars

What are the arguments to protect the information from disclosure?

Texas Central Rail shouldbe granted the same privacy protections that a business would be granted.

KBTX | Texans Against…

Update. The Other Side of the Coin—- 18 Bills = 9 Bills + Companions. High Speed De-Railment.

Highlights from Texas Central Rail repsonse to the high speed rail bill package:

  • ” a slate of discriminatory bills”
  • it is the “use the power of the state government to single out and kill a free market project”
  • 10,000 jobs are represented by high speed rail project
  • Billions of dollars will be invested in the Texas economy
  • Collaborating with landowners 
  • “a majority of Texans have been clamoring for” this project

WTAW Brazos Valley | Texas Central Partners Reaction To State Legislation…

3 Points. East Texas Editorial Opposed to High Speed Rail.

Tyler Morning Telegraph editorial opposing Texas Centrail Rail raises these 3 points:

  • This isn’t a rural-urban issue. This is a property rights issue.
  • You can’t say this is a private enterprise, promoting free market when you use eminent domain, because eminent domain is the opposite of free market.
  • This is crony capitalism with the government  “thumb on the scale”

Tyler Morning Telegraph | Editorial: Texas bullet train an example of crony capitalism

18 Bills = 9 Bills + Companions. High Speed De-Railment.

Which members joined forces to file bills to impede high speed rail?

  • Senators Birdwell, Creighton,  Kolkhorst, Perry, & Schwertner
  • Representatives Ashby, Bell, Cook, Schubert, and Wray 

The hot issues in the press release announcement:

  • big bad evil #1 : foreign investments (remember Trans Texas Corridor & Cintra, anyone?)
  • big bad evil #2: it will hurt family farms and private property rights
  • big bad evil #3: this is going to be expensive, more expensive than they are saying
  • big bad evil…

5 Points from State Rep. Byron Cook. High Speed Rail Op-Ed

  • The “Japanese – Texas High Speed Rail Project” is too good to be true
  • It is a “bullet aimed at property owners ”  to the benefit of “commercial real estate venture or for the state’s master transportation plan for the future.”
  • The project is touted by “private real estate speculators”
  • Reliance on Japanese rail technology has 2 problems:
    • its not compatible to existing rail in Texas
    • “future generations of Texas rail customers hostage to a monopoly railroad technology with NO competitive…