U.S. lawmakers, responding to a new Supreme Court ruling, are proposing to limit the power of states and local governments to seize private property to build shopping malls, sports stadiums and similar projects, Bloomberg News reports.
House Republican leaders called for prompt action on a bipartisan measure that would punish states and local governments undertaking such projects by withholding federal funds, Bloomberg said. In the Senate, John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, introduced a similar bill last week.
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“The Supreme Court voted (recently) to undo private property
rights and to empower governments to kick people out of their
homes and give them to someone else because they feel like it,”
said House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican. The
ruling is “a bag of rocks falling out of the sky that sooner or
later is going to land on somebody’s underprivileged home,” he added.
The House voted June 30 231-189 to block use of federal funds
for local projects on lands seized for economic development, Bloomberg reports. The measure was an amendment to a spending bill governing three
Cabinet-level departments, including the Department of Housing and
Urban Development. HUD administers a federal block grant program
used by localities for economic development projects, Bloomberg said.
The Supreme Court permitted government agencies to take
property as part of an economic development plan – and even
transfer it to another private party – as long as the landowner
gets compensation. The 5-4 ruling, which split the court along liberal-conservative lines, came in a case involving land near a Pfizer Inc. plant in New London, Conn.
The decision, a setback for property-rights activists,
buttresses the power of public agencies to seize property for such
traditional uses as airports or highways. Cities say they need the
broader power to take property for economic development to raise
added tax revenue and create jobs.
Bloomberg News
