April 27th, 2006

Legislature Makes One Last Push For Eminent Domain Reform

Rep. Al White, R-Winter Park, together with a few of his house colleagues, is making one last push at reforming Colorado’s standard for eminent domain before the legislature adjourns next month. This latest proposal would compensate property owners up to 125 percent of the market value of their property, while also raising the standard required for government to take a person’s home, small business or property. See Today’s Denver Post for more.

Potential problems with the bill, as laid out by property rights advocates in Colorado:

It’s a statutory change and not a constitutional one—meaning that legislators, under pressure from local government lobbyists could turn around next year and gut the intention of the bill. Whites’ previous measure, a constitutional amendment, would have been harder to undo, as any changes would have required a 2/3 vote of the legislature to send it to a vote of the people, and then majority approval by the citizens of the state.

It may offer more money to people losing their homes, but it doesn’t provide a high enough standard to ensure that people aren’t wrongly losing their homes in the first place.

April 25th, 2006

Today’s Denver Post: Eminent Domain Measure Dead

Read April 24th Denver Post to see “Eminent-domain measure euthanized” by Chris Frates.

It reads: “The sponsor of a constitutional amendment to prevent governments from taking land for economic development killed his proposal Monday but said he is willing to work with the House speaker on a proposed compromise. Still, Republican Rep. Al White of Winter Park said the proposed deal being brokered by Democratic House Speaker Andrew Romanoff is “stopgap” because it is a statutory measure that would be much easier to change than a constitutional amendment.”

PRP’s Take: This decision means the legislature will not send to the ballot a constitutional amendment to protect property rights; instead, any hope of getting it there is November rests with activists who are working hard across Colorado to gather enough signatures.

April 22nd, 2006

Town Hall Meeting on Property Rights, Kiowa, CO April 22nd

From Kathy Fauth:

Your Property—Learn How to Keep It – Know How to Protect It

April 22, Saturday 10:00 AM

Elbert County Fair Grounds in Kiowa, CO

State Highway 86 and Kiowa Bennett Road

Topics of discussion:
House Concurrent Resolutions HCR06-1001

Sponsored by Representative Al White

Senator Lois Tochtrop

It is imperative that we get the Amendment on the Ballot in November, with either the Initiative or HCR06-1001 so the people can decide the fate of their own property:

“IN ORDER TO EXERCISE THE POWER OF EMINENT DOMAIN, A CONDEMNOR SHALL ESTABLISH BY CLEAR AND CONVINCING EVIDENCE THAT THE CONDEMNATION OF THE PROPERTY IS FOR A PUBLIC USE AND THERE IS NO REASONABLE ALTERNATIVE MEANS TO ACQUIRE THE PROPERTY.” “THE PUBLIC OR PRIVATE BENEFITS OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, INCLUDING AN INCREASE IN TAX BASE, TAX REVENUES, EMPLOYMENT, OR GENERAL ECONOMIC HEALTH SHALL NOT CONSTITUTE A PUBLIC USE.”

Please attend and support Property Rights

If you would like to speak for your property rights organization, please contact Kathy and Tom Fauth fauths@earthlink.net or call 303 203 3132 before April 10th. Questions, directions, anytime.

April 22nd, 2006

Town Hall Meeting on Property Rights, Kiowa, Colorado

Your Property

Learn How to Keep It – Know How to Protect It

April 22, Saturday 10:00 AM

Elbert County Fair Grounds in Kiowa, CO

State Highway 86 and Kiowa Bennett Road

House Concurrent Resolutions HCR06-1001

Sponsored by Representative Al White

Senator Lois Tochtrop

STOP EMINENT DOMAIN FOR ECONOMIC GAIN

It is imperative that we get the Amendment on the Ballot in November, with either the Initiative or HCR06-1001 so the people can decide the fate of their own property:

“IN ORDER TO EXERCISE THE POWER OF EMINENT DOMAIN, A CONDEMNOR SHALL ESTABLISH BY CLEAR AND CONVINCING EVIDENCE THAT THE CONDEMNATION OF THE PROPERTY IS FOR A PUBLIC USE AND THERE IS NO REASONABLE ALTERNATIVE MEANS TO ACQUIRE THE PROPERTY.” “THE PUBLIC OR PRIVATE BENEFITS OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, INCLUDING AN INCREASE IN TAX BASE, TAX REVENUES, EMPLOYMENT, OR GENERAL ECONOMIC HEALTH SHALL NOT CONSTITUTE A PUBLIC USE.”

If you would like to speak for your property rights organization, please contact Kathy and Tom Fauth fauths@earthlink.net or call 303 203 3132 before April 10th. Questions, directions, anytime.

April 13th, 2006

In Today’s RMN: Golden Attempts Condemnation Outside Its City Limits

The City of Golden wants to condemn property located outside of its city limits, saying it wants to protect it for open space. The owners of the property are willing to give all but a few acres to the city for free if they can get approval from Jefferson County to remove four existing analog broadcast towers and replace them with one digital tower. Instead of taking this deal, the city is talking about spending $1.8 million of taxpayer money to condemn and forcibly acquire the land.

Regardless of how you feel about towers, consider this: If Golden can take this property, what’s to stop it from taking others?

See Today’s Rocky Mountain News to read entire article; here is an excerpt:

“Golden followed through on its threat to seize the site of a proposed transmission tower that some Denver-area broadcasters hope to use to broadcast high-definition television, filing an eminent domain case in Jefferson County District Court on Wednesday.”

April 13th, 2006

Marsha Looper of Colorado Citizens For Property Rights–Rally For Property Rights Next Wednesday, April 19th

*ATTENTION ALL COLORADO PROPERTY OWNERS *

The Transportation Committee will be determining our fate!

Make sure your voice is heard!

HB1003—Representative Pommer’s Toll Road Regulations Bill

Wednesday, April 19, 1:30 pm, Room 0112

Bus pickup times: 9:00 a.m. at Calhan Auction Barn

9:45 in Peyton at Maggie’s Grocery, Elbert-TBA, Elizabeth-TBA

Cost $15 per person. If you do not have the money, please let us know.

Contact Bonnie Shilling at 719-749-0408 in El Paso

and Debra Sherman 303-648-3611 in Elbert

Marsha Looper, Executive Director,

The Colorado Citizens for Property Rights

719-238-5600

April 13th, 2006

Steven Greenhut in the WSJ: How Government Got in the Business of Redevelopment

Steven Greenhut, in the April 6th Wall Street Journal, writes:

“While city officials have long micromanaged land-use decisions and appropriated private property for economic redevelopment, it was not until the Supreme Court’s Kelo v. City of New London decision last summer that many Americans noticed the degree to which big government has set up shop on Main Street.

“Take Garden Grove, an aging working-class city of gaudy strip malls and tract houses 34 miles south of Los Angeles. In 2002, officials planned to bulldoze a large, decent neighborhood to make way for a theme park, issuing bond debt to finance subsidies to help its developer. The project failed amid community protest; so the local government moved on, this time attempting to turn city-owned land over to a group of Indians who would work with a Las Vegas developer to build a casino.”

April 11th, 2006

Think Superslab is dead? Think Again. . .

From the April 10th Rocky Mountain News, reporter Tillie Fong reports that Developer Ray Wells hasn’t given up on his “Superslab project, despite a state law that prevents him from using eminent domain to condemn private property for the proposed toll road on the eastern plains stretching from Fort Collins to Colorado City, south of Pueblo.”

April 5th, 2006

PRP in today’s Denver Post: Respect the rights of ranchers and farmers

In today’s Denver Post, PRP Director Jessica Corry offers her perspective on concerns about Colorado’s disappearing agricultural land, noting that conservation efforts should focus on private sector solutions.

From Post Staff Writer Margaret Jackson:

“While the temptation is to turn to government for solutions, the solution really should come from the private sector, said Jessica Peck Corry, director of the property-rights project at the Independence Institute, a Golden-based think tank.

‘Property owners should be able to do what’s in the best interest of their families,’ she said. ‘If people want to see it preserved, then they should talk to ranch and farm owners and come up with a fair price.’

April 2nd, 2006

Colo. Senator Tom Wiens: Condemnation of Private Lands For Private Toll Roads Over

DENVER –Sen. Tom Wiens, R-Castle Rock, is please to announce that today the governor has signed Senate Bill 78, which would strip the power of condemnation from private entities. The bill received overwhelming support in both chambers of the legislature.

“Today is a triumph for personal property rights in Colorado,” Wiens said. “We cannot use 19th century laws to fix 21st century transportation problems, and Senate Bill 78 updates state law without shutting all the doors to finding transportation solutions. Senate Bill 78 makes it clear that one private company cannot condemn the property of a Colorado citizen to build a private toll road simply for its own profit,” Wiens said. “The protection of private property rights is a fundamental protection that Coloradans should expect from their government.”

Wiens vowed last year to introduce this legislation after a similar bill was vetoed by Gov. Bill Owens. SB 05-230 passed the Senate 34-1 and the House 49- 15. This year, Sen. Tom Wiens and Gov. Bill Owens reached an agreement that eliminates the use of eminent domain to condemn private property for private toll roads while preserving and clarifying the statutory authority of the state to enter into an agreement for privately funded roads.

Senate Bill 78 will protect the private property rights of all Coloradans and preserve CDOT’s opportunity to work in private-public partnerships to provide transportation solutions for Colorado.

“Many of us have worked for nearly two years to protect private property rights against the threat of private condemnation,” Wiens said. “The governor and I both agree that protecting private property rights should be high on the list of government priorities, and I am extremely pleased we found a solution to our differences. I’m proud to have carried this bill two years in a row and that we were able to craft a solution that will benefit every Coloradan.”

“With the Governor’s signature this bill removes the cloud that has been hanging over all of Colorado, especially the nearly 100,000 property owners who live along the 12-mile-wide path that is Super Slab,” said Wiens, a Republican from Castle Rock.

“The legislature has overwhelmingly supported this bill since I first introduced it in 2005,” Wiens said. “Now with the governor on board, all Coloradans can claim victory over private threats of condemnation and know that in Colorado fundamental private property rights we all deserve will be protected.”

Senator Tom Wiens, R-Castle Rock, is the Senate Republican Caucus Chairman. He represents Senate District 4, which includes Lake, Douglas, Teller, El Paso and Park Counties. He serves on the Senate Business, Labor & Technology Committee, and the Senate Transportation Committee. His address during the session is State Capitol, Room 274, 200 East Colfax, Denver CO, 80203. ### ###

Thank You For Your Support, Senator Tom Wiens
email: tom@tomwiens.com
phone: 303-866-4869
web: http://www.tomwiens.com