For Immediate Release Tuesday, May 2, 2006

For further information, contact: Paul Gessing at 505-264-6090

(Albuquerque, New Mexico) Today, the Rio Grande Foundation and 52 other grassroots and policy organizations nationwide called on Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist to bring to the Senate floor and pass legislation that would protect New Mexicans – and all Americans – from eminent domain abuse.

In November of 2005, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed H.R. 4128, the "Private Property Rights Protection Act of 2005" by a vote of 376-38 (including support from all three New Mexico representatives). This legislation would protect property owners by withholding all federal economic development funds from states and localities that transfer private lands from to another private entity (ostensibly to enhance tax revenue or economic development) for a period of two (2) years. The Senate Judiciary Committee has failed to act on this bill.

Rio Grande Foundation President Paul Gessing noted, "While many states have already passed legislation to limit their state and local government’s abuse of eminent domain, New Mexicans have been left totally unprotected by Governor Richardson’s veto earlier this year of legislation addressing eminent domain abuses. The legislature’s unanimously-supported bill would have prohibited the use of eminent domain for private-to-private transfers for five years."

As Gessing wrote earlier this year in the Albuquerque Journal, "Poll-after-poll clearly shows that large majorities of Americans of all income levels, ethnic backgrounds and from all geographical regions oppose the use of eminent domain to further private development initiatives. In one recent survey by the American Farm Bureau, when respondents were asked about the Kelo ruling, an overwhelming 95 percent expressed disapproval; of those respondents, 87 percent said they disagreed strongly with the ruling."

Gessing concluded, saying "As we have seen in New Mexico, broad and bi-partisan support is not enough to pass important legislation to address eminent domain abuse. Well-connected special interests, particularly money-hungry local governments, have been actively working behind the scenes to kill or weaken protections for property owners. New Mexicans must remain vigilant on this issue and ensure that action is taken both at the federal and state levels."

The letter and list of signatories is available by clicking here.