Eminent Domain Referral Fails to Make Ballot
Technorati Tags: eminent domain, South Dakota, 2008 election, referred lawsAttached is the press release announcing the result of the South Dakota Secretary of State’s validation of SB 174 referral petitions. Unfortunately the Secretary of State determined that the 18,850 petitions submitted to refer SB 174 to the November ballot did not include a sufficient number of valid signatures to refer the law to a vote of the South Dakota people.
The efforts of Protect Private Property to refer SB 174, an act to revise certain provisions relating to the exercise of eminent domain by railroads, to the November 4 general election ballot were therefore unsuccessful.
Protect Private Property is a group of citizens concerned with property rights in South Dakota. The group worked to give South Dakotans the opportunity to vote on whether the state’s new eminent domain law should stand. The group believes that SB 174, passed by the 2008 South Dakota Legislature, is an assault on South Dakotans’ private property rights.
Existing law provides a balance between the rights of corporations and the rights of landowners in railroad eminent domain cases. SB 174 tilts the balance of law in favor of corporations and against South Dakota landowners.
We fought to keep the law in balance so that both sides would receive equitable treatment.
Todd Epp
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