To date, not one North Carolina legislator has introduced a constitutional amendment to protect against eminent domain abuse.
Last time I checked, NC still had the worst property rights protections in the country: NC is the only state that doesn’t have a provision in its state constitution that expressly limits the taking of private property for a public use with just compensation. This is a disgrace.
Last time I checked, the only thing keeping the government from seizing someone’s house and handing the property over to a developer is weak statutory language. Even now, there certainly are indirect ways the government can seize homes for private interests.
In 2007, the House overwhelmingly passed (104-15) a constitutional amendment–granted, it needed a lot of improvement, but it was a start. Then, as usual, the Senate (or more likely a couple of Senators) ignored the will of the people and sent the amendment off to die in the Senate Ways and Means Committee (which hasn’t met in years).
The House and the Senate need to introduce an eminent domain amendment, and it needs to be much better than the one passed in 2007. It needs to:
– Protect property owners from having their property seized directly or indirectly for economic reasons
– Protect property owners from the abuse of blight laws.
– Provide compensation that genuinely makes a property owner “whole.” This means relocation costs, loss of business goodwill, etc.
– Protect property owners from having property seized (for any reason) when the government has alternatives.
We already had the House Minority Leader, Rep. Stam (R-Wake) try to drastically weaken property rights by expanding the abhorrent policy of quick take authority (government takes immediate title and possession of property).
I expect (and hope) there to be a constitutional amendment introduced, maybe even by Stam. It needs to be introduced right away, and it needs to offer real protection.
