Bob Dole: “time and again I have heard from the people all across America that Congress must do more to stop the infringement on…”

“time and again I have heard from the people all across America that Congress must do more to stop the infringement on private property rights. I believe we have all heard this message. Today, I along with Senators Heflin, Brown, Craig, Kassebaum, Burns, Hatch and Nickles are introducing the private property Rights Act of 1995. This legislation will serve as a small step toward ensuring that government mandates and government bureaucrats do not continue to run over individual citizens and individual rights. Now, a lot has been said on this floor regarding private property rights. I think many of us agree on the need to protect private property. The question is--How do we best proceed to get the government out of the peoples' backyards? Last year I introduced the private property rights Act of 1994. Some Members in this Chamber may recall a modified version of that legislation was later attached to the Safe Drinking Water Act. Today, I am introducing the Private Property Rights Act of 1995. This bill has incorporated some of the changes proposed during the debate of the 1994 Safe Drinking Water Act, although there are still differences. This bill takes a ``look before you leap'' approach to the regulatory process. The legislation requires Federal agencies to conduct a takings impact assessment when promulgating any agency policy, regulation, guideline or before recommending legislative proposals to Congress.”