My previous plea to the North Carolina Senate to treat North Carolinians as well as dirt failed miserably. Now I will plead my case to the House.
On Thursday, the House Judiciary I committee will hear an eminent domain bill (SB 600).
Before I describe the bill, let me provide a little background. Under current NC law, the government can seize your private property even if reasonable or better alternatives exist that don’t involve eminent domain.
A reasonable eminent domain reform, as I have written in the past, is to require the government to prove that no reasonable alternatives exist to condemning a specific piece of property.
For SB 600, legislators took this idea. Unfortunately, SB 600 protects conservation easement holders (who may or may not be property owners) from having property seized if there is a conservation easement running with the property.
The bill requires the government to prove that there is no prudent and feasible alternative to condemnation of the property encumbered by the conservation easement. A jury is even required to hear the case.
Basically, in order to protect trees and dirt, the government must prove that there are no alternatives to hurting the dirt on the property. Yet when it comes to your house, church, or business, the government does not have to prove a thing. There’s concern for the dirt, but not for humans and their property interests.
Note: It is very possible that a property owner could want to sell property to the government but the easement holder’s interests (and the interests of dirt) would trump the rights of the property owner.
My Plea to the NC House
Please require that the government have to prove there are no “prudent and feasible alternatives” for all condemnations. Unless they want to make it perfectly clear that they care more about dirt than us and our homes, they should expand this protection in the bill.
In other words, please treat us like dirt.
