BUSH STRENGTHENS FLORIDIAN PROPERTY RIGHTS

Jeb Bush, Florida governor, ratified a law which strengthens the rights of private real estate owners in the state against possible action from local authorities. Bill HB 1567 enforces strict limits on the right of local governments to acquire private property through eminent domain or compulsory purchase.

After the ratified law, authorities using compulsory purchase to seize properties must offer to sell the property back to the previous owner as soon as it is no longer required by the authority itself. If the previous owner does not express interest on the property anymore, there must be a ten year waiting period before the property can be sold. The sale must follow a competitive bidding process.

Before the law was ratified, months of debate across the US were spent regarding the eminent domain issue after the Supreme Court found in favor of the city of New London, Connecticut in a ruling that declared that local authorities could use eminent domain. It was originally introduced to allow the compulsory purchase of homes for the building of roads and other public works.

Because property taxes for new homes and commercial properties are invariably much higher than for older existing real estate, the court’s decision triggered a wave of compulsory purchases all over the country wherever authorities were able to demonstrate that they would gain increased tax earnings from developing hitherto private property.

The new Floridian law is the latest in a series of bills passed by individual states to protect property owners from potential abuses resulting from the court’s ruling. According to Bush, Florida now has “the toughest protections for private property rights in the country”.

“The new law severely restricts state and local governments’ power to take private property and transfer to another private entity,” Bush claims after signing the bill. “The right to own property is fundamental to freedom. Property ownership is the ultimate reward for hard work and symbolises personal responsibility and independence.”

Posted on: Florida

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BUSH STRENGTHENS FLORIDIAN PROPERTY RIGHTS

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