50 State Report Card - The Castle Coalition

50statereport cardCastle CoalitionLEGISLATION REPORT CARDState:Minnesota• Property cannot be condemned for private commercial developmentand a majority of individual properti must be blighted before anarea can be condemned.• Unfortunately, the exemptions for TIF distris mean it will beseveral years before the proteions are realized in those distris.In response to the U.S. Supreme Court’sdecision in Kelo v. City of New London, anamazing and diverse coalition of civil rightsgroups, religious leaders, trade associations,concerned citizens, and officials fromMinnesota’s major political parties workedtogether to reform the state’s eminent domainlaws. The coalition included representativesfrom the Institute for Justice, NAACP, UrbanLeague, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce,Hmong Chamber of Commerce, FarmersUnion, Farm Bureau, Teamsters, MinnesotaFamily Council, Minnesota AutomobileDealers Association, National Federation ofIndependent Business, other trade associations,ministers from local black churches, formerIndependent Party gubernatorial candidate TimPenny, and individuals who had been threatenedwith takings of their property.Bipartisan legislative reform wasintroduced in the first week of the legislativesession and on May 19, 2006, the governorsigned into law Senate File 2750, legislation thatInc.protects homes, farms, and small businessesfrom eminent domain abuse. The law explicitlyprohibits municipalities from using eminentdomain to transfer property from one owner toanother for private commercial development.It also requires that blighted properties be anactual danger to public health and safety to becondemned for private development. Nonblightedproperties can be condemned onlyif they are in an area where the majority ofproperties are blighted and there is no feasiblealternative to taking them to remediate theblighted properties.Unfortunately, SF 2750 exempts more than2,000 Tax Increment Financing districts, manyof which are in the Twin Cities, for up to fiveyears. It also includes exemptions for projects inRichfield and Minneapolis. While the end resultis very strong reform that provides Minnesotanswith significant protections, if the bill hadpassed without exemptions the State Legislaturecould have boasted enacting one of the strongestreforms in the country.Senate File 2750 (House File 2846)Sponsored by: State Senator Thomas BakkStatus: Signed into law on May 19, 2006.27