OK, my friend Steve Rossie of the Family Foundation really didn’t really need to lobby me that hard because we’ve been worried about eminent domain issues here at BD for years.
However, perhaps the best chance to pass eminent domain legislation in the General Assembly and move forward with the constitutional amendment process has arrived.
What Rossie reminded me of yesterday is that the vote is effectively here and Senators need to be contacted today to be encouraged to support HJ 693 – a bipartisan bill that amends the state constitution and defines just exactly what the government can and cannot do with respect to private property. The amendment reads:
(i) no private property shall be damaged or taken except for public use without just compensation to its owner for the property taken and for damages to the residue caused by the taking or damaging and (ii) that no more private property may be taken than that which is necessary to achieve the stated public use. Just compensation shall be no less than the value of the property taken and the damages to the residue caused by the taking. A public service company, public service corporation, or railroad exercises the power of eminent domain for public use when such exercise is for the authorized provision of utility, common carrier, or railroad services. In all other cases, a taking or damaging of private property is not for public use if the primary use is for private gain, private benefit, private enterprise, increasing jobs, increasing tax revenue, or economic development, except for the elimination of a public nuisance existing on the property (emph. added). The condemnor bears the burden of proving that the use is public, without a presumption that it is.
Specifically, this amendment says the government cannot cause your land to be seized for someone else’s private gain. An absolute no-brainer, right? Wrong. Government has done this and its power to do so needs to be checked.
In Virginia, this needs to be done via a constitutional amendment.
Because of our convoluted system to amend the Virginia constitution (much like other odd quirks of our government like a single-term governor, but I digress) 21 senators need to vote to pass this amendment in order for it to move on to a second vote next year and ultimately a ballot question posed to us, the Virginia voter, in a general election – likely 2012. So, if you are so inclined, with the imminent vote on eminent domain, today would be a good day to contact your Senator by email or phone. You can find out who your Senator is, in case you’re not sure, here.
