(Eminent
Domain Amendment, version 2)
by Kerry Thomas
May 31, 2008
In an effort to eliminate the practice of acquiring private
property by a public entity for use by another private entity (an abuse of the
Eminent Domain laws), the following Constitutional Amendment is proposed:
“Section 1 - Whenever any private property acquired for
public purposes is transferred, sold, gifted, or in any way whatsoever conveyed
into private ownership, the private entity from which the private property was
acquired for public purposes, it’s heirs, trustees, assigns, agents, or other
successors shall be afforded the first right to re-acquire the public property,
under the same terms under which the private property was acquired for public
purposes.”
Under the terms of Amendment
V of the U.S. Constitution, “…nor shall private property be taken for public
use, without just compensation.”
That “just compensation” part of the 5th
Amendment could also use some clarification.
Perhaps I should add a second section to my proposed Amendment:
“Section 2 - Just Compensation, as
described in Amendment V of this Constitution, shall be determined by not less than
three qualified appraisers, who shall be familiar with the true value of the
private property in question.”
The 5th Amendment doesn’t really address the
question of whether the government can take private property for private use,
as has become the practice in many areas of the country. A government body takes someone’s land, then
turns it over to a private developer to build a shopping mall, or a business
center, or condos, or any other private development. Usually, the argument in favor of such takings goes along the
lines of “It’s in the public’s interest” to develop the new private enterprise,
or because the new enterprise will generate more tax revenue to the government
than the existing use of the private property.
On June 23, 2005, the United States Supreme Court actually
approved this practice as being Constitutional, in the case of Kelo v. New London.
The process of amending the United States Constitution is a
long one, and must follow the method and process spelled out in Article
V of the Constitution:
“The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses
shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on
the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall
call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be
valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified
by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions
in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be
proposed by the Congress; provided that no amendment which may be made prior to
the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the
first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no
state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the
Senate.”
This proposed Amendment is intended to safeguard the private
property rights of every citizen in America.
If a developer wants your property, but you don’t want to sell, the
government should not have the right to just take your property and give it to
the developer.
(I previously wrote a similar editorial on December 6,
2006. See Eminent
Domain Amendment)