Panel Shifts Course on Eminent Domain

October 30, 2006 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

by Timothy Sandefur

The Jackson Hole (Wyo.) Star Tribune reports that a legislative committee has altered a bill intended to prevent eminent domain abuse. It's impossible to tell for sure from the article, but it sounds as though they've watered down its provisions significantly. When politicians say that they don't want to "go too far," what they mean is, they don't want to provide real protection for property rights. When they say they don't want to "throw up roadblocks to industrial development," they mean, they don't want to provide real protection for property rights. And when they talk about "early notification to landowners," what they mean is, they don't want to provide real protection for property rights.