Thursday, November 03, 2005

House Votes To Block Land Seizure

Hah! State and local governments who liked Kelo have a reason to think twice. (Yay!)

(AP) Contending that the Supreme Court has undermined a pillar of American society, the sanctity of the home, the House overwhelmingly approved a bill Thursday to block the court-approved seizure of private property for use by developers.

The bill, passed 376-38, would withhold federal money from state and local governments that use powers of eminent domain to force businesses and homeowners to give up their property for commercial uses...

More, from CBS

Update: The Castle Coalition Media Center release. They note that this now goes to the Senate. Maybe my relief and rejoicing earlier today was premature? (That's what I get for relying on headlines as I skim over stories on a busy day... I should know better by now.) At any rate, H.R. 4128, the Private Property Protection Act of 2005, as passed by the House, cuts off economic development funds for two fiscal years to state and local governments that use eminent domain for private development. Hmmmm. Not as strong as I'd like, but it's something. And I really like the other provision being talked about from this bill - it prohibits the federal government from using eminent domain for private development. C'mon, Senate.

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