Luke Baker - Texas Insider
Published: 01-22-09
Governor Rick Perry came down hard today against the state’s power to exercise eminent domain.
Citing a landmark Supreme Court case (Kelo v. New London) and loopholes in Senate Bill 7 passed in 2005 Perry expressed the need for Constitutional language regarding eminent domain. Four legislative reforms were cited these being the need to:
• Define “public use” in statute
• Eliminate the blight/slum loophole in Texas Law
• Make it easier for property owners to challenge determinations of public use
• End the use of eminent domain for land speculation
Many view this as a shrewd political move by Perry who was criticized for vetoing a bill in 2007 that would have further protected rural landowners from eminent domain. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison Perry’s expected opponent in his bid for re-election has said private property protection will be a major issue going into 2010.
Accompanying Perry today were Susette Kelo a citizen icon and displaced homeowner from the Kelo case investigative journalist Jeff Benedict author of “Little Pink House: A True Story of Defiance and Courage” Senator Robert Duncan and Representative Rob Orr.
