AUSTIN, Texas (AP) _ Texas property owners would have stronger protections when the government wants to take their land under a measure approved Wednesday by the state Senate.
Property could be seized under a process called “eminent domain” only it if would be put toward public use, and landowners could buy it back if the project is not started within 10 years.
The government would also be required to make a “bona fide” offer to buy the property.
The changes force the government to deal fairly with “good faith negotiations and just compensation,” said bill author Sen. Craig Estes, R-Wichita Falls.
Lawmakers have been tinkering with the state’s eminent domain law for years as concern mounted about governments abusing their power to seize private land. In 2009, a similar bill won unanimous support in the Senate but ultimately died in the House.
Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, has designated the eminent domain bill a legislative emergency.
Perry vetoed a similar bill in 2007, a move that angered farmers and private property rights advocates. In 2009, he supported a state constitutional amendment to ban governments from taking land for private development.
The Senate unanimously approved the bill, which was supported by a broad range of interest groups including the Texas Farm Bureau, pipeline companies, utility companies and private landowner groups.
Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, supported the bill but expressed concern that it doesn’t help landowners along the Mexico border whose property has been encroached upon by the border wall running through their fields and orchards.
“This is land they’ve held in their families since before Texas was founded as a republic,” Lucio said. “I hope this body can do something for those border family members.”
The bill now goes to the House for consideration.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)