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Monday, August 08, 2005

Ind. Law - Legislative Interim Committee on Eminent Domain to meet

The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette has an editorial today on the first meeting of the legislative Interim Committee on Eminent Domain, scheduled for this week.

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling has given an unusual level of importance and immediacy to a legislative study committee that holds its first meeting this week. While such panels can sometimes be an exercise in bureaucratic futility, many Hoosiers will be watching for the results of the Interim Committee on Eminent Domain.

When Rep. David Wolkins, R-Winona Lake, sponsored a bill in the last legislative session to limit cities’ powers to declare eminent domain and seize private land, the issue was under the radar screen of much of the public. The Supreme Court’s July decision allowing cities to seize private land and transfer it to other private owners if it benefits the public changed that, drawing criticism from both conservatives and liberals.

Unlike some Supreme Court rulings that override state laws, Justice John Paul Stevens made clear in his decision that states can raise the bar for declaring eminent domain in taking land. Wolkins, chairman of the study committee, will very likely lead the effort to encourage fellow lawmakers to do just that. His efforts will probably run into heavy opposition from the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns, which also opposed his bill.

The legislature should preserve the powers of local governments to take land for public use such as highways or government buildings. Such power often gives landowners a strong incentive to negotiate. And the legislature should review how property is valued to make sure people whose land is taken through eminent domain are fair compensated.

But allowing government to take private land and give it to another private owner is wrong, and the General Assembly should ban the practice in Indiana.

The meeting will be Wed., August 10 at 1 p.m. in the Auditorium of the State Government Center. Here is the agenda. Here is the membership. Here is the enrolled version of HB 1063 (PL 173-2005), that established the interim study.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 8, 2005 07:34 AM
Posted to Indiana Law