Lawmakers approve eminent domain reform
Measure included in the passage of a bevy of bills at the 11th-hour
May 16, 2006
JEFFERSON CITY – Eminent domain reform is coming to Missouri thanks to the work of state representatives and senators and the forthcoming signature of a governor who appointed an Eminent Domain Task Force to help get lawmakers to act before the 2006 Legislature ended May 12.
The bill preventing abuse of eminent domain laws was passed May 5.
“The legislation achieves my twin goals of protecting the rights of responsible property owners and the rights of local communities to remove damaged or neglected properties,” Gov. Matt Blunt said. “I thank the General Assembly for acting so quickly on my recommendations to protect Missourians from abuse of eminent domain laws when no clear public interest exists.”
The final bill sent to the Republican governor’s desk contains 16 of the 18 recommendations generated by his task force. It rejects the findings of the U.S. Supreme Court in Kelo v. New London and prohibits the use of eminent domain solely for economic development purposes. It also offers an additional step of protection for churches and non-profit organizations who may be at risk of having their property seized, according to Kerry Messer, lobbyist for the Christian Life Commission of the Missouri Baptist Convention.
“We never expected the Legislature to completely insulate churches from ever facing eminent domain,” Messer said. “At one point in the process, such a concept was actually in the bill, but in the end, churches will now receive the same additional premium compensations as any other business interests would, which is what business lobbyists were arguing.”
Pro-life House Democrats continued to work until the very end of the session alongside pro-life Republicans to oppose the taking of human life through embryonic stem cell research. Reps. Rachel Bringer, D-Palmyra, and Belinda Harris, D-Ware, members of South Union Baptist Church and Morse Mill Baptist Church, respectively, offered successful amendments to bills that garnered 111 and 105 votes, respectively. Rep. Jim Lembke, R-St. Louis, noted that 109 votes are needed to override a gubernatorial veto.
On May 8, the House voted to pass Bringer’s amendment to prevent the use of Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority assets for human cloning or abortion. On May 10, a similarly worded Harris amendment went onto Senate Bill 904, which pertains to the management, design and construction of state buildings. As expected, neither amendment became public policy, but that did not lessen the resolve of the dissenters.
“Several of us are very determined to continue to bring these issues forward to make sure that they become part of statute and don’t just fade into the background,” Bringer said in a May 11 interview.
“The majority party controls the calendar of the House. The majority party appoints the committee chairmen who decide what bills to hear and what bills to vote on. That’s why Rep. Harris and I continue to push amendments.”
Bringer offered another amendment that mirrored a recent attempt by Sen. Matt Bartle, R-Lee’s Summit, to halt state tax dollars from going to casinos. In this instance Bringer acted based on a St. Louis Post-Dispatch article that exposed the Department of Economic Development granting tax breaks to the Isle of Capri Casinos Inc. amounting to $2.4 million. Her amendment lost, 130-22.
“I am disappointed the amendment did not receive more support to insure these tax dollars went to create and retain quality jobs for rural Missouri businesses in need,” Bringer wrote in a May 5 news release.
Her colleague across the aisle, Lembke, is likewise grieved by the unwillingness of some influential Republicans to act on the human cloning issue. Their decisions have prevented Missouri from potentially becoming the eighth state to ban embryonic stem cell research. States that have moved to defend human life statutorily are Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Arkansas, North Dakota, South Dakota and Arizona.
“Some Republicans have bought into this economic development issue and that this is going to be the salvation as far as creating jobs, but most of us have not,” Lembke said. “We still have strong majorities (in the House and Senate), and I believe when the public is educated on this issue, they’re going to come out in great quantities and vote down this cloning initiative that actually changes our Constitution.”
The year was not a particularly good one for passage of bills of moral concern. House Bill 1474, sponsored by Rep. Kathy Chinn, R-Clarence, “The Founding Documents Protection Act,” died a quiet death, as did House Joint Resolution 39 on prayer, sponsored by Rep. Carl Bearden, R-St. Charles and a member of First Baptist Church of Harvester in St. Charles.
The Republican Party controls all three levers of power in the Missouri Capitol. Sen. Charlie Shields, the majority floor leader from St. Joseph, has undue influence over the flow and scheduling of legislative debate, Messer said. How he dealt with bills that Missouri Baptists and other morally minded citizens toiled for in 2006 is being scrutinized.
“Sadly, it appears that one senator, Charlie Shields, has determined he doesn’t want ‘the religious right wing’ controlling too much of Missouri’s public policy,” Messer said.