House Bill 1268, Eminent Domain Amendment

Rep. Paul Stam, R-Wake, presents an amendment to take out physically blighted properties from eminent domain takings.?

As debate ensues, Rep. Lucy Allen D-Franklin, makes?
a motion to send the bill back to the Judiciary II Committee. Rep. Rick
Glazier, D-Cumberland, says it needs to be rewritten. Rep. Deborah
Ross, D-Wake, is concerned about the physical blight language and what
to do about it. She says it needs to be in a form that everyone is
comfortable with. She addresses cartway issues.

Rep. Phil Haire, D-Jackson, says our statutes are just fine and the need for a constitutional amendment is farfetched.

Rep.
Ronnie Sutton, D-Robeson, says he is concerned about a poorly written
bill that changes the constitution and needs to go back to a judiciary
committee for serious consideration.

Stam says 101 of you
voted for the bill two years ago. Opponents of the bill want it killed.
It can be fixed on the floor. One fix would change “paragraph” to “two
sentences,” and the other is to delete “physical blight.” He advocates
the deletion of the blight language as a way to prevent discrimination
against poorer properties.

Allen says the statutes are the way
to change these things. If we have a hard time understanding this, we
should not put this before the voters.

Rep. Becky Carney,
D-Mecklenburg, says she doesn’t want to kill it. She says she has a
responsibiluty and needs to know more about where we’re heading with
this.? This is a major move to amend the constitution.

Rep.
David Lewis, R-Harnett, asks Glazier: if it goes back to committee,
what’s the plan? The response: First thing, confer with staff and bill
sponsors and address concerns about the seriousness of a?
constitutional amendment. Would he consider letting the second reading
vote occur and addressing concerns before a third reading? That’s
right, but he doesn’t think 24 hours is enough time.

Rep. John
Blust, R-Guilford, says this is a simple vote. If you want to protect
property rights, vote no; if you don’t want to protect property rights,
vote yes.

Rep. Mickey Michaux, D-Durham, questions the right to jury trial and just compensation.? Stam says he doesn’t think a trial by jury should be required.?

The vote to send the bill back to committee, essentially killing it: 60-56.