Legislation passed Wednesday brought Rhode Island a step closer to ending the taking of private property in the name of economic development.
Both the state House and Senate passed bills on Wednesday to restrict the use of eminent domain. If adopted, either measure would allow state and local governments to exercise the land-taking power only for uses such as to make way for public projects and to restore blighted neighborhoods.
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“I think that people have a constitutional right to own their property and to feel secure that government would not come in and take their property and give it to a private company,” said state Rep. Charlene D. Lima, D-Cranston, the lead sponsor for the House bill.
“At least Robin Hood and Jesse James robbed from the rich to give to the poor,” Lima said. “Under eminent domain they are robbing from the homeowner and giving to the rich corporations so they can make more profit.”
The use of eminent domain to spur economic growth has drawn similar ire from landowners and lawmakers in Rhode Island and across the county, and has been labeled as an abuse of the power given to governments under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
In nine lines of text, the brief House bill bars any public agency or government entity from using eminent domain to seize land to “benefit a private entity.”
The four-page Senate bill, on the other hand, gives the General Assembly the sole power to use eminent domain for economic development.
Larry Berman, a spokesman for House Speaker William J. Murphy, said that House and Senate sponsors of the bills likely would meet to discuss crafting a unified bill for each legislative body to pass before the end of the legislative session.
