50 State Report Card - The Castle Coalition

50statereport cardCastle CoalitionLEGISLATION REPORT CARDState:Florida• The state s an example by rtoring eminent domain authority toits original and limited purpose by removing the blight exceptionand closing the book on its long history of property rights abuse.• A ten-year waiting period for private transfers further surproperty rights in the state.In 2006, the Florida Legislature provedthat it understood the public outcry caused bythe Supreme Court’s abandonment of propertyrights. Florida created a legislative commissionto study the use of eminent domain and ways ofreining in abuse, then passed House Bill 1567with an overwhelming majority. The new lawsigned by the governor requires localities towait 10 years before transferring land taken byeminent domain from one owner to another—effectively eliminating condemnations forprivate commercial development. HB 1567 alsoforbids the use of eminent domain to eliminateso-called blight, instead requiring municipalitiesto use their police powers to address individualproperties that actually pose a danger to publichealth or safety.Not content with mere statutoryprotections, the Florida Legislature also put aconstitutional amendment on the Novemberballot so that the state’s citizens could makesure that these reforms could not easily bestripped away. The new amendment, whichwas approved in a landslide, requires a threefifthsmajority in both legislative houses to grantexceptions to the state’s prohibition againstusing eminent domain for private use.Thanks to these sweeping reforms, Floridahas gone from being among the worst eminentdomain abuse offenders to offering some ofthe best protection in the nation for homes,businesses, and houses of worship that formerlycould have been condemned for privatedevelopment. HB 1567 and Florida’s newconstitutional amendment should be modelsfor other state legislatures. They prohibittakings for private benefit while still allowingthe government to condemn property fortraditional public uses such as roads, bridges,and government buildings.Inc.House Bill 1567Sponsored by: State Representative Marco RubioStatus: Signed into law on May 11, 2006.House Joint Resolution 1569Sponsored by: State Representative Marco RubioStatus: Passed by the legislature on May 4, 2006.Approved by voters on November 7, 2006.13