Private Property Rights Protection Act of 2005

PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS PROTECTION ACT OF 2005 -- (House of Representatives - November 03, 2005)

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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Chairman, I rise to oppose the legislation, which is the congressional response to the Supreme Court decision Kelo v. City of New London. By enacting this legislation, we are undermining the States' rights and assuming the role of a city council. We should not change Federal law every time Members of Congress disagree with the judgment of a locality when it uses eminent domain for the purpose of economic development. We were elected to the United States Congress, not to local city councils.

Mr. Chairman, it is impossible for Congress to draw a bright line principle separating those cases in which economic development is appropriate for a particular area and when it is not. The Constitution does require that the taking be for public use. It is the role of a city council to weigh the needs of a particular community and consider when the government should use eminent domain.

Sometimes that might mean taking property for the purpose of economic development. Sometimes it may not. Sometimes we will agree with the judgment of the locality. Sometimes we will disagree.

I cannot think of a more fitting example of the quagmire this bill presents than the situation we have right here in Washington, D.C., where they are trying to build a baseball stadium. I find it ironic that, at the same time we are marking up the bill, Washington, D.C. is using eminent domain to build a baseball stadium.

The debate on this bill has already exposed the shortcomings of the legislation. For example, we found that if a stadium were built and owned by the city at taxpayer expense, it would clearly be allowed under the bill. On the other hand, if the owner offered to build a stadium at his own expense, that might not be allowed.

The bill requires public access to the stadium as ``a matter of right.'' Does that mean that the skyboxes must be put to public auction, or can the owner pick and choose which businesses can acquire rights to skyboxes?

Anybody who surveys baseball or football stadiums around the country will find all kinds of public and private and joint public-private ownership combinations. Could some use eminent domain, while others be prohibited from using eminent domain based on the fact that they want to limit access to skyboxes or how the title of the stadium is held?

Mr. Chairman, the World Trade Center and Lincoln Center in New York, the Baltimore Inner Harbor, even President Bush's baseball stadium in Houston, Texas, were all made possible by eminent domain takings for the purpose of economic development. And although we might agree or disagree with the wisdom of these projects, most would agree that they should not have been illegal. These are political decisions that ought to be left to the localities within the confines of their State legislature's parameters.

If Congress cannot leave eminent domain to the States, then we should focus on the real issues involved in eminent domain. We should require, for example, that just compensation should include replacement cost, not just technical appraisal value. We should require that relocation expenses be paid to owners and tenants.

As written, the bill does nothing to ensure that displaced individuals receive reasonable compensation for the replacement value and relocation expenses. The bill does nothing to ensure compensation for loss of goodwill of a business, nothing to ensure that due consideration is given for the length of time a family or business has been at a particular location. Nothing in the bill deals with the fact that the poor and minorities are usually the victims of eminent domain abuses. Let us put some protections in the bill so that those who are relatively weak politically can be protected from unfair use of eminent domain.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to place in the Record at this point letters from the National League of Cities, the National Conference of State Legislatures and the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials.

Mr. Chairman, I believe that the decision-making power of eminent domain should remain at the State and local level and that congressional attempts to define when eminent domain is reasonable and when it is not will cause more problems than they solve. Therefore, I urge my colleagues to oppose the bill.

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