Texas Farm Bureau calls for eminent domain reform

Calling current private property protections “inadequate” and “tilted,” Texas Farm Bureau State Director Richard Cortese called on state lawmakers to reform Texas eminent domain law. End Quote

Waco, TX (1888PressRelease) March 27, 2009 - Calling current private property protections “inadequate” and “tilted,” Texas Farm Bureau State Director Richard Cortese called on state lawmakers to reform Texas eminent domain law.

“Texas Farm Bureau believes that the private ownership of property is one of the cornerstones of our nation’s freedoms,” the Bell County farmer and rancher said in testimony before the House Committee on Land and Resource Management. “It is what has helped build our nation and our state. The changes we seek today are needed to strengthen this basic right and to protect the rights of property owners.”
Texas court rulings allow condemners to make low initial offers to property owners without fear of repercussion, Cortese said. In fact, because there are no repercussions, some entities no longer view eminent domain as a last resort.

"Instead, they view it as an opportunity to purchase property as cheaply as possible," Cortese said.
Eminent domain law should be changed to require good faith offers from all condemning entities, Cortese said. Those entities should also be required to pay all fees the landowner incurs in challenging unfair offers.

“Property owners receiving low-ball offers face a difficult choice,” Cortese said. “They may accept the low offer or fight to receive fair market value. Property owners that choose to fight incur court costs, attorney’s fees and expert witness fees that must be paid from the court awarded damages they receive for their land. Either way, the property owner loses.”

Beyond compensation, eminent domain laws should factor diminished access into the equation. When a private property owner faces loss of access to his property, it’s simply a matter of fairness that he or she be compensated for that loss, Cortese said. He said the Texas Department of Transportation currently takes access without compensation.

“In some cases, they are selling access to a property owner whose access they condemned," he said. "They should be required to pay property owners for taking a driveway just as they charge property owners to have a driveway. Allowing this unfair practice to continue perpetuates a system that disregards the rights and needs of property owners during the design of highways.”

This lack of fair compensation is in sharp contrast to other states, Cortese noted.
“A review of nine other states, including California and Florida, shows that seven of those states consider and allow compensation for factors that Texas denies,” Cortese said.

The comprehensive eminent domain reform bills Texas Farm Bureau supports are SB 18 by Sen. Craig Estes and HB 1483 by Rep. Jim Pitts. Both of these bills address the "three pillars" of eminent domain reform: a good faith offer by the taking entity; compensation, including diminished access; and a clear definition of public use. Farm Bureau supports a number of other bills that address specific aspects of eminent domain reform.

Read more about eminent domain reform, and about what you can do to make it happen, at the new Texas Farm Bureau website on the issue.

About The Texas Farm Bureau
The Texas Farm Bureau works to provide a voice for Texas farmers, ranchers, rural citizens and everyone interested in preserving and protecting this way of life. More on the Web at:
Texas Farm Bureau website

TFB Eminent Domain website

TFB Facebook website

TFB Twitter website

For a photo of TFB President Kenneth Dierschke, other TFB staff, farm and ranch photos and other agricultural information, visit the TFB Online Media Center at http://www.txfb.org/MediaCenter/index.html

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