{"id":12711,"date":"2015-03-25T10:03:57","date_gmt":"2015-03-25T14:03:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=12711"},"modified":"2015-03-25T10:07:43","modified_gmt":"2015-03-25T14:07:43","slug":"condemnor-bears-the-burden-of-proof-ga-2006-constitutional-amendment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/condemnor-bears-the-burden-of-proof-ga-2006-constitutional-amendment.html","title":{"rendered":"Condemnor bears the burden of proof –GA 2006 Constitutional Amendment"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\nSabal Trail can’t just assert public use for its pipeline: it has to prove it,\r\naccording to the Georgia Constitution.\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nThe\r\nConstitutional Amendment\r\nreferred to by the landowners Attorney Jonathan P. Waters\r\n\r\nat yesterday’s eminent domain hearing in Leesburg, GA<\/a>\r\npassed\r\n 7 November 2006 by 1,622,403 to 338,876, or 82.7% to 17.3%<\/a>.\r\nHere’s then-Governor Sonny Perdue’s press release<\/a> when he signed the law to put it on the ballot, which includes this sentence:\r\n

\r\n

\r\nPublic benefit from economic development shall not constitute a\r\npublic use.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nSo it would appear vague claims of tax revenue or illusory jobs\r\nare not enough, Sabal Trail.\r\n

\r\nHere’s the\r\n\r\n“neutral summary and explanation”<\/a> required by Georgia state law:\r\n

\r\n

\r\nSummary\r\n<\/H4>\r\n

\r\nProposing an amendment to the Constitution so as to require that the\r\ncondemnation of property for redevelopment purposes must be approved\r\nby vote of the elected governing authority of the county or city in\r\nwhich the property is located; to restrict the use of eminent domain\r\nfor redevelopment purposes to the elimination of harm; to provide\r\nthat the use of eminent domain by counties and municipalities shall\r\nbe subject to limitation by general law; to prohibit the use of\r\neminent domain by certain nonelected local authorities; to provide\r\nfor submission of this amendment for ratification or rejection; and\r\nfor other purposes.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nExplanation\r\n<\/H4>\r\n

\r\nThis proposal provides several limitations with respect to the\r\nexercise of the power of eminent domain and the taking of private\r\nproperty for public purposes. The proposal provides that any taking\r\nof private property for redevelopment purposes must be approved by\r\nvote of the appropriate elected city or county governing authority.\r\nThe proposal provides that any taking of private property for\r\nredevelopment purposes must be for a public use as defined by\r\ngeneral state law. The proposal provides that the exercise of\r\neminent domain by cities and counties can be restricted by general\r\nstate law and that any exercise of eminent domain by a nonelected\r\nhousing or development authority must be approved by vote of the\r\nappropriate elected city or county governing authority.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nThe text of the amendment is in\r\n\r\n2005-2006 Regular Session – HB 1313\r\nEminent domain; comprehensive revision of provisions; provide<\/a>,\r\nwhich contains this interesting sentence added to O.C.G.A. 22-1-2(a):\r\n

\r\n

\r\nNotwithstanding any other provisions of law, neither this state nor\r\nany political subdivision thereof nor any other condemning authority\r\nshall use eminent domain unless it is for public use. Public use is\r\na matter of law to be determined by the court and the condemnor\r\nbears the burden of proof.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nI haven’t seen any proof; have you?\r\n

\r\n -jsq\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sabal Trail can’t just assert public use for its pipeline: it has to prove it, according to the Georgia Constitution. The Constitutional Amendment referred to by the landowners Attorney Jonathan P. Waters at yesterday’s eminent domain hearing in Leesburg, GA passed 7 November 2006 by 1,622,403 to 338,876, or 82.7% to 17.3%. Here’s then-Governor Sonny […]","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[14,8,19,20,6124,6687],"tags":[8366,8704,4615,8701,8709,8702,8710,1953,7776,12,7,1955,562,6076,8365,8367,6597,5044,6966,6],"class_list":["post-12711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economy","category-georgia","category-history","category-law","category-natural-gas-2","category-pipeline-2","tag-common-carrier","tag-economy","tag-eminent-domain","tag-georgia","tag-history","tag-lake","tag-law","tag-lee-county","tag-leesburg","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-mitchell-county","tag-natural-gas","tag-pipeline","tag-public-use","tag-public-utility","tag-sabal-trail-transmission","tag-sonny-perdue","tag-spectra-energy","tag-valdosta"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-3j1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12711"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12714,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12711\/revisions\/12714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}