50 State Report Card - The Castle Coalition

50statereport cardCastle CoalitionLEGISLATION REPORT CARDState:New Hampshire• Blight is now property-by-property and must be a “menace” tohealth and safy.• A constitutional amendment prohibits taking property for privateuse.On Friday, June 23, 2006, exactly oneyear after the Kelo decision, New HampshireGovernor John Lynch signed into law SenateBill 287, legislation that provides citizens withmeaningful protection against eminent domainfor private profit. The eminent domain reformbill, which sailed through both legislativehouses, explicitly states, “Public use shall notinclude the public benefits resulting fromprivate economic development and privatecommercial enterprise, including increasedtax revenues and increased employmentopportunities.” Unfortunately, the bill continuesto allow the use of eminent domain for theelimination of blight, and even though SB287 requires that an individual property, asopposed to an area, be a “menace to health andsafety,” the blight exemption still prevents NewHampshire’s reform from receiving the highestgrade.Knowing that statutes are easier to repealthan constitutional provisions, the NewHampshire General Court also made sure thatthe state’s citizens had the opportunity to voteon a constitutional amendment that wouldguarantee the greatest possible protectionfor their property rights. CACR 30 was thatproposed constitutional amendment, whichsaid: “No part of a person’s property shall betaken by eminent domain and transferred,directly or indirectly, to another person if thetaking is for the purpose of private developmentor other private use of the property.” In theNovember 2006 elections, more than 85 percentof New Hampshire voters cast their ballots infavor of this new provision.This is one of the strongest reformefforts mounted in response to Kelo. NewHampshire legislators understand whatdefenders of eminent domain abuse still donot—that Kelo created a big problem for thestates to fix, that economic developmentwill undoubtedly continue without eminentdomain, and that every home, business, farm,and place of worship needed protection againstcondemnation for private gain.Inc.Senate Bill 287Sponsored by: State Senator Bob OdellStatus: Signed into law on June 23, 2006.CACR 30Sponsored by: State Representative Robert GiudaStatus: Passed by the legislature on April 20, 2006.Approved by voters on November 7, 2006.33