WEB RELEASE: August 3, 2005
CONTACT: John Kramer
Lisa Knepper (202) 955-1300 [Private Property]
Washington,
D.C.—With his signature later today, Governor Bob Riley is expected to
make Alabama the first state to give its citizens stronger protections against
eminent domain for private profit in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s
decision in Kelo v. City of New London.
That decision gave governments
nationwide the power to seize homes, small businesses, churches and other
property to benefit private interests without violating the U.S. Constitution.
Instead of giving meaning to the Constitution’s “public use”
limitation on the power of eminent domain, the Court left it up to states and
municipalities to protect home and small business owners from seizure for
private development.
“Kudos to Alabama political leaders for
taking the first step toward protecting their citizens from eminent domain
abuse,” said Institute for Justice Senior Attorney Dana Berliner, who
represents Susette Kelo and the other New London, Conn., homeowners fighting to
save their homes. “But there is more work to do. For full protection of
Alabamians’ rights, legislators must reform the blight laws that
all-too-often provide a sham justification to use eminent domain for private
profit. Today, blight can mean literally anything the government wants it to
mean, and as a result, homeowners’ rights remain in jeopardy.”
The Alabama legislation prohibits cities and counties from using
eminent domain for private development or for enhancing tax revenue. But it
creates an exception that allows seizure of so-called “blighted”
properties so that they can be turned over to private interests.
“Alabama blight law is particularly prone to abuse and must be
reformed,” said Berliner, who authored a first-of-its-kind nationwide
study on eminent domain abuse, Public Power, Private Gain. “In Alabama you
can condemn property under blight law if it might become blighted in the
future, or if the property is ‘obsolescent’—usually a code word
for ‘we’d like something else here.’”
“If
legislators close the blight loophole, Alabama will be one of the best states
in the country for protecting the rights of home and small business
owners,” Berliner added. “A revised law would allow takings for true
problem areas but not for trumped up ‘blight’ claims.”
Responding to public outcry over the Kelo ruling, lawmakers in at least
31 states and the U.S. Congress have taken swift action to curb eminent domain
abuse.
“Alabama is the first state to enact meaningful eminent
domain reform, but we are sure it won’t be the last,” said IJ
President and General Counsel Chip Mellor. “Legislators are responding to
the widespread and nearly unanimous public outrage over the Supreme
Court’s Kelo ruling.”
In the wake of Kelo, legislation has
been introduced in seventeen states (Alabama, California, Connecticut,
Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New
Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Texas)
limiting the use of eminent domain for private projects or tightening eminent
domain procedures. Lawmakers in another seven states (Alaska, Louisiana,
Oklahoma, Ohio, South Dakota, South Carolina and Wisconsin) have announced
plans to introduce eminent domain legislation in upcoming sessions.
Legislators in Colorado, Georgia and Virginia now hope to revive
previously introduced bills. Legislators in Alabama, California, Florida, New
Jersey, Texas and Michigan are mobilizing to support state constitutional
amendments prohibiting eminent domain for private development. Arkansas,
Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Tennessee and New Hampshire have created
state commissions to study the use of eminent domain and ways of reining in
abuse.
Legislators in Connecticut and New York have called for
moratoria on the use of eminent domain until their legislatures can revise the
law to protect property owners. The City of New London, Conn., has agreed to
abide by the moratorium and allow Susette Kelo and the other homeowners to stay
for now.
Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann Minner also signed eminent domain
legislation in the wake of Kelo, but that bill appears to reinforce—not
limit—the ruling. The bill simply requires that cities have a plan when
condemning property and that the condemnations are for a “recognized
public use,” which under Kelo includes private economic development.
Federal lawmakers have also moved to curb eminent domain abuse. Texas
Sen. John Cornyn and Wisconsin Rep. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., introduced
legislation in Congress that would bar federal funding for projects involving
takings for private profit. By a large margin, the U.S. House of
Representatives passed a resolution condemning the Kelo decision. California
Rep. Maxine Waters introduced legislation that would withhold community
development block grants from communities that do not prohibit eminent domain
abuse. Texas Rep. Henry Bonilla proposed prohibiting federal development
assistance for cities that abuse eminent domain.
“The issue of
eminent domain abuse has galvanized Americans like no other in recent memory
because it literally touches home,” added Mellor.
Poll after poll
shows Americans virtually united against eminent domain for private profit.
Eighty-nine percent of Connecticut voters say the legislature should limit
eminent domain, according to a poll by Quinnipiac University. Ninety-three
percent of New Hampshire citizens oppose takings for private development,
according to the University of New Hampshire. A recent Wall Street Journal/NBC
poll found that Americans cite private property rights as the current legal
issue they care most about.
To channel popular outrage into lasting
legislative change, the Institute for Justice and its Castle Coalition
grassroots arm launched a $3 million Hands Off My Home campaign. The campaign
supports eminent domain reform at the state and local level and equips ordinary
Americans with the means to protect their homes, small businesses and churches
from eminent domain for private profit. Citizens can join the Castle Coalition
and learn how to get involved in Hands Off My Home at www.castlecoalition.org.
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