Ron Kind: “I rise in support of the Eminent Domain Property Act offered by my colleague from Wisconsin, Chairman Sensenbrenner.…”

“I rise in support of the Eminent Domain Property Act offered by my colleague from Wisconsin, Chairman Sensenbrenner. This bipartisan-supported bill was introduced in response to the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision in Kelo vs. City of New London, which condoned the use of eminent domain to take private property and transfer it to another private entity for the stated purpose of economic development. Mr. Chairman, the Kelo decision put homeowners, small business owners, and farmers all across the country at risk of losing their property to this expansion of the government's eminent domain powers. The Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution allows local government to use eminent domain powers to condemn private property. The only requirement is that owners are given ``just compensation'' and that the land in question goes to a ``public use.'' Traditionally, the ``public use'' requirement in eminent domain cases allowed the local government to condemn property to build railroads, or bridges, or highways. But in a 1954 case, Berman v. Parker, the Supreme Court found that ``public use'' could include condemning blighted neighborhoods to build better ones as a means to raise more tax revenue. But, whereas the Berman case was predicated on the property being `blighted,' the Kelo decision goes further down the slippery slope and rests solely on whether the condemnation would improve tax revenues.…”