50 State Report Card - The Castle Coalition

50statereport cardCastle CoalitionLEGISLATION REPORT CARDState: Tennessee• Failed to aropriately addr the definition of “public use” or“blight.”• Chang to notice requirements put property owners at a greaterdisadvantage.Inc.Just like several other states, Tennesseecreated a state commission to study the use ofeminent domain and ways of reining in abuse.State legislators filed dozens of bills intendedto make sure that Tennesseans would not haveto worry about their own homes, businesses,farms, or houses of worship being condemnedfor someone else’s private benefit. But of all thepossible eminent domain reform bills to choosefrom, the General Assembly ended up selectingtwo that did very little to improve the protectionof property rights in their state.House Bill 3450/Senate Bill 3296 madea slight improvement to the state’s definitionof “blight,” yet the definition still remainstoo broad. The bills also provided someadditional notice to property owners during thecondemnation process. The bills did remove thepower of eminent domain from certain partiesand modified the state’s definition of “publicuse” to exclude economic development, but theystill permit governmental entities to transferproperty no longer being used for a public useto another public or private party and theyexpressly allow the government to condemnproperties for the purposes of building“industrial parks.” House Bill 3700 actuallyseems to be a bit of a regression, changinga previous requirement that condemningauthorities publish notices (including a mapof the targeted area) once a week for threeconsecutive weeks to a requirement thatthe condemning authority post the map ofthe targeted area for review in at least twolocations. House Bill 3700 also removes aprior requirement that condemning authoritiesobtain approval from the governing body of theaffected county unless the condemnations werepursuant to a redevelopment plan that utilizedtax increment financing applicable to the countyproperty tax levy.These changes to Tennessee’s law shouldbe deeply disappointing to the state’s citizens,especially since the General Assembly couldhave selected from any number of bills thatwould have offered real, substantial protectionsfor citizens’ property rights. Due to thelegislature’s failure to fix the state’s definitionof blight, the issues will need to be revisited ifTennesseans are to be assured of the propertyrights protections they deserve.House Bill 3450/Senate Bill 3296Sponsored by: State Representative Joe FowlkesStatus: Signed into law on June 5, 2006.House Bill 3700Sponsored by: State Representative Joe ArmstrongStatus: Signed into law on June 27, 2006.46