| California
 Senator
Tom McClintock, sponsor of eminent domain reform legislation,
addresses farm owner concerns at Yolo press conference.
California Ballot Initiatives
Proposition 98 – The California Property Owners and Farmland Protection Act – The Alliance, with the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and the California Farm Bureau Federation, have qualified a measure to protect the private property rights of all California property owners. This measure, Prop. 98, will appear on the June 2008 ballot. For more information on Prop. 98, visit the campaign website at www.YesProp98.com.
Taxpayer Protection Act of 2008 – The Alliance, with the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and the National Taxpayer Limitation Committee, have submitted a ballot measure that strengthens existing laws that prohibit the use of taxpayer dollars for political activity by making it illegal for taxpayer financed organizations to finance their political activities through anonymous campaign accounts. Organizations such as the League of California Cities (League), California State Association of Counties (CSAC) and California Redevelopment Association (CRA) spent millions of dollars from these anonymous “non-public funds” accounts to defeat Proposition 90 in 2006 and have already spent over $2 million to defeat the California Property Owners and Farmland Protection Act.
California Legislation
The 2007 State Legislative session concluded without any meaningful reforms enacted. In fact, the only measure given serious consideration was Assembly Constitutional Amendment (ACA) 8 by Assemblymember Hector De La Torre. ACA 8 failed to provide meaningful “Kelo” protections for all California property owners and was defeated in the State Assembly.
Recommendations on Current Legislation in California
When considering legislation, The Alliance is careful to
recommend meaningful reforms that ensure private property
right protections to all property, in contrast with so called
“reform” legislation that includes loopholes
that render many bills meaningless and provide no or limited
private property protections.
Areas of concern that measure effectiveness of bills professing
reform;
1) Blight – Since existing law allows
“blighted property” to be seized for development,
reform legislation must strictly define “blight”
so that overly broad or weak definitions cannot threaten
your property.
2) “Property” – Most
often, legislation provides greater property protections
to “owner-occupied residential property.” But,
by doing so, legislation excludes churches, business, farms
or residents of apartments. Protections should apply to
all property.
3) Moratorium – This term only requires
legislators or some other policy body to “study”
the issue for a period of time and often, does not require
government to implement reforms. This is often intended
to put off reforms to another day.
Based on the aforementioned criteria of concern, the Alliance
is recommending action on the following legislation. Our
stated position on legislation may change as bills are amended.
No recommendations at this time.
|
