« Environment - More on "House panel stiffens confined feed rules" | Main | Legislative Benefits - "Legislator to Lobbyist" slowdown bill gets cold shoulder »

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Ind. Law - More on: Forced annexation target of legislation

Updating this ILB entry from Jan. 10th, on SB 114, Niki Kelly of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports today:

A bill prohibiting forced annexation in the state cleared its first legislative hurdle Wednesday.

The Senate Local Government and Elections Committee voted 6-4 to move Senate Bill 114 to the full Senate for debate. The panel split along party lines, with all Republicans supporting the measure, including Sen. Gary Dillon, R-Columbia City.

“The process is not fair,” said Sen. Beverly Gard, R-Greenfield, co-author of the legislation. “And it’s going to come up year after year after year until we bring some sort of fairness to the system.”

The bill would essentially allow cities and towns to initiate annexations only when all of property owners agree. Residents wanting to be annexed could still petition the city with 51 percent of the owners on board.

Indiana is one of only six states that allow involuntary annexations.

The legislation also weakens sewer and water waivers sometimes attached to land prohibiting an owner from remonstrating against a future annexation.

Several Hoosiers caught up in expensive annexation battles testified before the committee about having to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight hostile takeovers.

Lesley Stedman Weidenbener of the Louisville Courier Journal reports in a story that begins:
Cities would lose their ability to initiate annexations unless they had signed permission from all affected property owners under legislation approved yesterday by a Senate committee.

The bill, which now moves to the full Senate for consideration, also weakens the annexation waivers that developers often sign so that cities will extend sewer and water services to their subdivisions.

Sen. Beverly Gard, one of the authors of Senate Bill 114, said the proposal is necessary to give some rights to homeowners in "hostile" annexations.

"The process is not fair," said Gard, R-Greenfield. "And it's going to come up year after year after year until we bring some sort of fairness to the system."

Gard has been trying to change the law since last year, when her two annexation bills fail amid intense lobbying from cities. Municipal officials said they must be able to expand their borders to remain healthy.

Under current law, people can challenge an annexation in court only if 65 percent of the affected property owners sign a petition opposing it.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 17, 2008 10:28 AM
Posted to Indiana Law