FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Governor signs eminent domain protection legislation

FORT WORTH, Texas, Nov. 25, 2005―Gov. Rick Perry visited Texas Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association headquarters in Fort Worth Nov. 25 to sign a copy of legislation limiting the use of eminent domain in Texas.
           “We feel it is indeed fitting that the Governor chose to come to association headquarters to ceremonially sign the bill,” said Dick Sherron, TSCRA president from Beaumont.  “The protection of private property rights has always been a core activity of this organization. We urged the governor to add the issue to the Legislature’s special session after the U.S. Supreme Court decided June 23 that government entities may seize private property for economic development.”
           Gov. Perry noted, “There are few things Texans cherish as much, or more, than their private property rights. Texas has a strong tradition of private property rights unless there is an imminent public need.”
           The Supreme Court decision sent shockwaves across the country, and legislatures scrambled to find a way to limit the application of the decision.
           In Texas, Sen. Kyle Janek filed Senate Bill 7 to prohibit the use of eminent domain by any governmental entity for economic development purposes, with certain limited exceptions. 
           Of particular interest to many ranchers concerned about the Trans-Texas Corridor program, the bill explicitly prohibits the Department of Transportation from condemning private property for ancillary facilities (gas stations, restaurants, etc.), unless the property is for one of multiple facilities included in a comprehensive development plan approved by the county commissioners court of each county in which the property is located.
           Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association is a 128-year-old trade organization whose 13,000-plus members manage approximately 5.4 million head of cattle on 70.3 million acres of range and pasture land, primarily in Texas and Oklahoma.

―TSCRA-34-2005―