Congressman Renzi Fights to Protect Private Property Rights for All Americans

House Passes Bill Co-Sponsored by Renzi to Stop Abuse of Eminent Domain Authority WASHINGTON, D.C. - The House of Representatives passed a bill, H.R. 4128 - the Private Property Rights Protection Act of 2005, on November 3, 2005, co-sponsored by Congressman Rick Renzi (AZ-1) to help protect the private property rights of all Americans. Congressman Renzi has been an outspoken critic of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to allow cities to bulldoze private citizens' homes to make way for development like malls or hotels, with no regard to a private citizen's property. "Freedom and private property in our nation will be forever intertwined, because you cannot have one without the other," said Congressman Renzi. "One of the most disastrous consequences of this recent Supreme Court decision was the new threat to affordable housing for lower income Americans, or those living in rural areas in states like Arizona. America's founding fathers would bristle at this greedy lunge for property by private entities. Our Constitution prohibits against actions like this in the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment." Specifically, the bill will enhance the penalty for states and localities that abuse their eminent domain power by denying those that commit such abuse all federal economic development funds for a period of two years. It will also allow those suffering injuries from a violation of the bill access to state or federal court to enforce its provisions. The bill does allow states and localities to have an opportunity to fix a violation before they lose any federal economic development funds, and also contains a refinement of the definition of "economic development" that would specifically allow the seizure or private property. Prior to this bill, there was no such definition.