FamilyFoundationBlog.com

A couple of hours ago, the Virginia Senate passed by a 35-5 vote, a proposed amendment to the Virginia Constitution that would protect private property rights and curb the government’s power of eminent domain. Don’t be deceived by the vote. Often, at the General Assembly, legislation with the largest vote margins were the most difficult to pass, with twists and turns, near-deaths, deaths and resurrections. All could be said of this resolution. Interestingly, the first vote was 30-10 and, seemingly, some senators not wishing to miss the election year train, asked for reconsideration, and jumped on board for the final tally. There were at least a few who almost sank this issue with their committee votes on several versions of this legislation who all of a sudden found their soul. We will identify them in due time. So, the vote appeared anti-climatic.

While it does not have the iron clad language on just compensation as it did coming out of the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee, ironically, it still goes beyond the House version and does guarantee just compensation for “lost profits” and “lost access” — but it leaves it to the General Assembly to legislate those definitions (which means more work to be done next session!). The negotiations that delayed this vote this week after it stunningly made it out of committee, apparently, at the last minute, made it palpable enough for several on both sides of the aisle, who could not summon the political strength to vote for the committee version.

Now the resolution goes back to the House of Delegates since it was changed from its version. Acceptance of the Senate’s amendments is almost a certainty, with House members openly eager and excited about the opportunity to vote on something given little chance in the hostile Senate when session started, and stronger than when it left the House! (No need to risk going to a conference committee, especially after the Senate has killed attempts for years, including earlier this year.) Just goes to show . . . anything can happen at the General Assembly and nothing should surprise anyone.

Opponents will say they got what they wanted out of it but the truth is they wanted none of this. They lost. Liberty and limited government won today! Never underestimate the influence of an election year. This played out similarly to the eminent domain reform statute the last time the Senate was up for election, in 2007.

Next steps: The resolution must be passed again by the new General Assembly next session — with no changes. That done, it will go to Virginians to ratify at the polls in November 2012.

More to come later. However, we cannot go any further without a bit of thanks — a bit, only, because it is impossible to adequately thank him — to the resolution’s patron, Delegate Johnny Joannou (D-79, Portsmouth). Without his determination, legislative skills and persuasive public oratory (we will have video later), we would very likely have to wait another three years (for a total of nine) without the possibility of property rights protection since the infamous and deplorable Supreme Court Kelo decision.

The Virginia Senate vote to protect property rights from the government’s overwhelming power of eminent domain again was put off today. One reason given was a senator’s absence due to attendance at a funeral, but no one doubts negotiations continue, especially within the Republican caucus, while not losing key Democrats. It’s a tight balancing act.

However, this delay affords grassroots activists another chance to keep the pressure on. If you have not, please contact your senator and urge him or her to vote for HJ 693, the protection of property rights from eminent domain (patroned by Delegate Johnny Joannou, D-79, Portsmouth). The best way to deny government’s appetite for continued growth and limit its intrusiveness is to protect private property and ensure just compensation for the true and few public uses that require a property taking. The only way to do that is to secure our liberties in the state constitution.

Contact your senator by e-mail.

Contact your senator by phone.

Learn who your senator is.

The property rights resolution (state constitutional amendment), HJ 693, patroned by Delegate Johnny Joannou (D-79, Portsmouth), was passed by on the floor of the Senate again today. With numerous interested parties, on both sides of the issue, watching with great intent on monitors throughout several rooms in the General Assembly Building and capitol, Senator Steve Newman (R-23, Forest) made the motion that it be by passed by for the day. The pro forma courtesy was granted. The reason: unclear, though one senator, not involved in them, said it was due to negotiations. Negotiations? Always negotiations!

Frustrating observers and activists was that the resolution was the last piece of legislation on the calendar — all that time listening to debates over occupancy taxes and prison sentences for attacks on emergency room personnel for naught.

On the other hand, it provides more time to contact your senator and urge his or her vote for HJ 693, as well as more publicity about it. Two more radio talk shows in Richmond, that I’m aware of, have or will beat the drum today and tomorrow; and more time to share this information on your social media sites. A sampling of senate office staff indicates that calls and e-mails are running well ahead for supporting. Hopefully, the big utilities and big local government lobbyists (who use your tax dollars to lobby against your rights, such as supporting eminent domain) aren’t using this delay to cool down the temperature. Still, another reason to keep the pressure on!

Contact your senator by e-mail.

Contact your senator by phone.

Learn who your senator is.

I was hoping to write about a smashing, never-in-a-million-years-possible victory on property rights protection tonight; about how we were one step closer to enshrining that fundamental right into the Virginia Constitution. However, the Senate delayed the vote on HJ 693 (Delegate Johnny Joannou, D-Portsmouth) until tomorrow.

This one day delay gives you another chance to contact your senator, if you have not already done so, and ask him or her to vote to ensure this basic, fundamental right: To own property — for family, business or farm, or any legal reason — and not fear the government’s power of eminent domain, where it can take it and hand it over to a corporation because it can produce more tax revenue than your house or business. The right to own property, and be justly compensated for it if a true public need requires a government taking, is a requisite tool to preserve individual liberty and curb the growth and intrusiveness of government. It also is a matter of basic fairness: Some localities in the past have taken entire neighborhoods on the pretext that one or two houses were “blighted” and sold to developers for huge amounts of money.

We strongly urge you to contact your senator now. It will be a close, but winnable vote. This is historic — the Virginia Senate has not taken up such a measure in recent memory. People who believe that government has become too big in size and scope now must take only a few moments to click below and make their voices heard to their elected representatives. This is our moment. If this vote fails, we will have to wait at least three more years for the opportunity to vote at the ballot box for a state constitutional amendment to guarantee this precious and God-given right.

We cannot let this opportunity to get meaningful protections fail. For the longest time the Virginia Senate has been a roadblock, but tonight we are on the doorstep of a historic victory. Securing private property rights ensures stable families, jobs, farms and even the right to worship freely. Let’s beat back the special interests and local governments once and for all and ask your senator to represent you, not government.

Politicians come and go. The courts are unpredictable. The only permanent protections of our rights are those in the Virginia and U.S. Constitutions. Please act to ensure them now.

Contact your senator by e-mail.

Contact your senator by phone.

Learn who your senator is.

Just beginning to explain the twists and turns of what is happening in the Virginia Senate over property rights would rival War and Peace. Forget about the whole story. So much to say, so much to keep confidential. Maybe a book, one day, is in the offing, or a screenplay. Okay, maybe an op-ed in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. You have to have goals.

Suffice it to say, the situation is fluid. I would hazard a guess that no one will know the outcome until Lt. Governor Bill Bolling announces the words, “The clerk will open the rolls. The senators will vote. …” I think some will hesitate and see what it going to happen, who is voting which way and what the count is. On the other hand, maybe a deal will be struck ahead of time. I’ve learned, when dealing with issues like this, as much of a cliche as it is, anything can — and usually — does happen. Nothing will surprise me. It is, after all, an election year.

Right now it’s close. By the vote, maybe not — in either direction. (In 2007, the House and Senate versions of eminent domain statutory reform barely escaped each chamber, but the conference report, which had the House’s tougher language, blasted through both chambers!) One thing that’s not good: A tie vote kills the resolution. A constitutional amendment must receive at least 21 votes of senators. The LG cannot break the tie. Another note: There’s a good chance the vote will be put off until Friday. But leave nothing to chance: Contact your senator now!

Here’s the breakdown: There’s slightly less than the 21 needed for the tougher language. There is probably enough for less strong, but very good language. Here’s the problem: There may be a few, who don’t get the version they want, who may scuttle the other, leaving us with neither version! Then, there are the out-and-out liberals who don’t believe in property right and are going to aid and abet which ever side it needs to accommodate that scuttle.

Does the extra day help or hurt one side or the other? It may slow down the momentum from yesterday’s dramatic doubleheader sub- and committee sweep (see Disrupt The Narrative). Yet, it may give the grassroots more time to pound senators’ offices. The utilities don’t need that kind of time. They just need the army of lobbyists they can deploy to cajole and, shall we say, persuade. It doesn’t take a lot of time to do that with the personnel and money they have at their disposal.

We, the people, the grassroots, the ones whose rights are affected by these special-interest laden decisions, have a say. It’s not too late by any stretch. Things change on a dime here at Mr. Jefferson’s capitol. Do your part!

Contact your senator and urge him or her to vote for HJ 693, (Delegate Johnny Joannou, D-Portsmouth) to support your property protections from big government and big corporations: by e-mail; by General Assemby office phone. Limiting government’s power of eminent domain limits government growth and intrusiveness, and secures our liberties. Don’t know your senator? Look him or her up here.

Today was one for the ages. A long shot priority piece of legislation, HJ 693, a property rights constitutional amendment patroned by Delegate Johnny Joannou (D-79, Portsmouth), passed in sub-committee and full committee! Within the last few hours, the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee voted 8-7 to report the resolution to the full Senate. Joining all six committee Republicans were Democrats Phil Puckett (D-38, Tazewell) and Creigh Deeds (D-25, Bath).

Now that it is on the Senate floor, we urgently need you to contact your senator and ask him or her to vote for HJ 693 to ensure the fundamental fairness of property rights and just compensation when your property is taken for a legitimate public use. Property rights are fundamental to our liberty, and to ensuring our family life, our jobs and businesses, and even our places of worship. Strong property protections limit government growth and intrusiveness. Now we are closer than ever — the first time in six years since the U.S. Supreme Court’s deplorable Kelo decision — to getting these rights enshrined in the Virginia Constitution.

It is very close, but very winnable, so we cannot let this opportunity to get meaningful protections fail. For the longest time the Virginia Senate has been a roadblock, but tonight we are on the doorstep!

Today, in both committees, about a dozen special interests lined up: Utilities and big corporations, and local governments and housing authorities (who use your tax dollars to lobby against your rights) lobbied relentlessly for the right to take your property for reasons other than true public uses. But a committee majority bravely listened to the people and now we have a real chance to see this resolution passed by the General Assembly and on the ballot for Virginians to vote on.

But we need you to act NOW!

The full Senate may vote on this as early as tomorrow and most likely Thursday. Now that we’ve come this far in the Senate, don’t let the special interests win by your inaction! Please take a short moment to contact your senator and ask him or her to vote for HJ 693!

Your voice matters! Please act now on this Family Foundation priority legislation!

Six years is long enough! Urge your senator to vote for HJ 693 on the Senate floor so that we can finally have the constitutional protections for our private property rights that other states have!

Click here for your senator’s e-mail address.

Click here for your senator’s General Assembly phone number.

If you are wondering why we have emphasized the importance of property rights this session and the procedural games played by the Virginia Senate, then listen to an outstanding interview (below) given Saturday by Senator Mark Obenshain (R-26, Harrisonburg) to Scott and Richard Lee on Richmond radio station WRVA’s Saturday Morning With The Lee Brothers. In it, the senator gives the inside scoop on what has gone down in the Senate regarding the on-going rules fights between Republicans and majority Democrats, and handicaps tomorrow’s vote in a Senate Privileges and Elections sub-committee on HJ 693, a property rights amendment to the Virginia Constitution. It’s very much worth the listen.

Click here to listen to the Lee Brothers interview Senator Mark Obenshain (9:30).

Now that you’ve listened, don’t you want to do something about it? It’s not too late and it’s not just us saying so (see our friends at Disrupt The Narrative). Contact members of the sub-committee listed here and ask them to vote to report HJ 693, patroned by Delegate Johnny Joannou (D-79, Portsmouth).

It’s hard to believe that just four people hold the fate of protecting the property rights of all Virginians, but that is the number of votes needed to pass or kill a proposed property rights amendment to the Virginia Constitution in the seven member Senate Privileges and Elections Sub-committee on Constitutional Amendments (see members here). A previous Senate resolution this session died on a 4-3 vote in this sub-committee and now the House version, passed 81-19 by that body, will be heard tomorrow morning in a liberty or death vote — it must pass in order for the full committee to hear the bill and to have a chance to get to the Senate floor (where it would have a good chance of passing).

Please contact members of the committee and ask them to vote to report HJ 693 to the full committee! Ask them to listen to the will of the people and protect your property rights.

While the Virginia Senate has proved to be a roadblock for property rights and reform of government’s oppressive power of eminent domain, Tuesday, the House of Delegates passed HJ 693, a state constitutional amendment patroned by Delegates Johnny Joannou (D-79, Portsmouth) and Rob Bell (R-58, Charlottesville), by an overwhelming 81-18 margin. This mammoth bipartisan vote surpasses even the 60-something vote the eminent domain reform statute received in 2007. Now, tomorrow morning, the Senate sub-committee will have a choice: listen to local governments and unelected housing and redevelopment authorities or the people they represent.

Defending our property rights is a longstanding principle of The Family Foundation, and we’ve supported efforts for several years to pass a constitutional amendment that answers the U.S. Supreme Court’s infamous and deplorable Kelo decision. Property rights affect all people, across all socio-economic and geographic lines. Whether urban, suburban or rural, Virginians are subject to losing their homes, farms, and family-run or small businesses to dubious “economic development” schemes, “revitalization” plans and government pork and boondoggle projects without this vital constitutional protection.

Without secure property rights, we only borrow our property from the government until it needs it; we have no security for our families, economic advancement or even to practice our faith. While government will always be here, our homes, businesses and places of worship have not such guarantee.

While many states rushed to grant their citizens state constitutional protections after the Kelo ruling, Virginians have waited six years for the Virginia Senate to act! This amendment must pass the Senate this year and both chambers again next year so Virginians can then vote on it at the ballot box in 2012. If it fails Tuesday, we must wait at least three more years – and we’ve already waited six!

Virginia passed a law in 2007 in response to Kelo, but developers, utilities, and local governments and housing and redevelopment authorities (who use your tax dollars to lobby against your rights) have tried each subsequent year to chip away at that statute. In short, as good as the statute is, it needs the protection only a constitutional amendment (HJ 693) can provide.

While the Virginia Senate has proved to be a roadblock for property rights and reform of government’s oppressive power of eminent domain — first, by defeating SJ 307 4-3 in a sub-committee vote, then refusing to bring it to the full Privileges and Elections Committee, then blocking a discharge motion to bring it to the floor — all hope of passing a constitutional amendment to guarantee these protections is not lost this session. That’s because at the same time the Senate majority Democrats defeated Senator Mark Obenshain’s discharge motion on SJ 307 Tuesday, the House passed HJ 693, patroned by Delegates Johnny Joannou (D-79, Portsmouth) and Rob Bell (R-58, Charlottesville), by an overwhelming 81-18 margin.

This mammoth bipartisan vote surpasses even the 60-something vote the eminent domain reform statute received in 2007. Now, this coming Tuesday morning, the same Senate subcommittee that earlier in session listened to local governments and unelected housing and redevelopment authorities instead of their constituents, will get another chance to listen to the will of the people and protect your property rights.

Contact members of the Senate Privileges and Elections Sub-committee on Constitutional Amendments Tuesday morning (members’ contact links here) and ask them to report HJ 693.

Defending our property rights is a longstanding principle of The Family Foundation, and we’ve supported efforts for several years to pass a constitutional amendment that answers the U.S. Supreme Court’s infamous and deplorable Kelo decision. Property rights affect all people, across all socio-economic and geographic lines. Perhaps the most affected are urban families, whose homes and businesses are considered an inconvenience to urban planners’ redevelopment schemes, most of which always fail (think Richmond’s 6th Street Marketplace).

While Virginia passed a law in 2007 in  response to Kelo, developers,  utilities, and local governments and housing and redevelopment authorities (who use your tax dollars to lobby against your rights) have tried each subsequent year to chip away at that statute. In short, as good as the statute is, it needs the protection only a constitutional amendment can provide.

After two weeks of delays, one of the most important committee votes of the 2011 General Assembly will take place Friday morning in the House Privileges and Elections Committee. Members will consider a constitutional amendment to safeguard your property rights from the power of eminent domain by state and local government and utilities. It is the last chance the committee has to approve the resolution if it is to meet the “crossover” deadline and pass it to the Senate. If there is no constitutional amendment passed this session, the earliest chance Virginians will have to vote on one will be November 2014.

It is urgent that you contact committee members to support this vitally important issue. Better still if one is your delegate. Click here for links to their contact information.

There are two identical resolutions before the committee: HJ 647, patroned by Delegate Rob Bell (R-58, Charlottesville) and/or HJ 693, patroned by Delegate Johnny Joannou (D-79, Portsmouth). This has been a long and difficult process, with a lot of work behind the scenes, but little to show for it so far, fighting off the big utilities as well as local governments who use your tax dollars to lobby against your rights. Friday, however, is our chance to move the ball forward for constitutional protections, limited government and economic and personal liberty.

Eminent domain is one of the most powerful and intimidating tools government has to increase its size, expand its reach into our lives and limit our freedoms. Without constitutional protections, you only borrow your property until the government takes it for whatever reason it determines. Without property rights, we don’t have secure homes for our families, the liberty to practice our faith, or the opportunity for economic advancement.

The fact is, ever since the deplorable Kelo decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, local and state governments have had eyes bigger than their stomachs for homes, farms and small businesses to feed their economic development schemes and pork barrel projects. Worse, sometimes they take private property and turn it over to another private entity. In one heinous case in Hampton, the city took private property for a pittance, and then sold it to a developer for millions while the original owner saw none of the extra money.

The Kelo decision was in 2005. The General Assembly has kept us waiting long enough to secure our constitutional rights to private property. Now, tell them the waiting is over!