Post Kelo Reform

[Antipitas]

How many of you have paid attention to how your State handled the public outcry, after the notorius Kelo decision (eminent domain) in July of 2005?

THE LIMITS OF BACKLASH: ASSESSING THE POLITICAL RESPONSE TO KELO

Ilya Somin, George Mason University School of Law
March 2007

This paper can be downloaded without charge from the Social Science Research Network at http://ssrn.com/abstract_id=976298

There were two polls taken after the Kelo decision.

American Farm Bureau Federation Survey, Oct. 29- Nov. 2, 2005, Zogby International. Question wording: “Do you strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree with the recent Supreme Court ruling that allowed a city in Connecticut to take the private property of one citizen and give it to another citizen to use for private development?”

2% agreed / 95% disagreed.

The Saint Index Poll, Oct.-Nov. 2005, Center for Economic and Civic Opinion at University of Massachusetts/Lowell. Question wording: “The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that local governments can take homes, business and private property to make way for private economic development if officials believe it would benefit the public. How do you feel about this ruling?”

18% agreed / 81% disagreed.

The wording of the question obviously reflects how people voted in these polls.

How did your state fare in dealing with this public backlash? The following table is from Prof. Somins paper.

Table A1:
Post-Kelo Reform in States Ranked by Number of “Threatened” Private-to-Private Condemnations

State		Number of	Effectiveness of Reform
		Threatened
		Takings
Florida		2,055		Effective (L & LR)
Maryland	1,110		No Reform
California	  635		Ineffective (L)
New Jersey	  589		No Reform
Missouri	  437		Ineffective (L)
Ohio		  331		Ineffective (L)
Michigan	  173		Effective (L & LR)
Utah		  167		Enacted Prior to Kelo
Kentucky	  161		Ineffective (L)
Texas		  118		Ineffective (L)
Colorado	  114		Ineffective (L)
Pennsylvania	  108		Effective (L)
New York	   89		No Reform
Minnesota	   83		Effective (L)
Rhode Island	   65		No Reform
Connecticut	   61		No Reform
Indiana		   51		Effective (L)
Arkansas	   40		No Reform
Tennessee	   37		Ineffective (L)
Virginia	   27		No Reform
Nevada		   15		Effective (CR)
Vermont		   15		Ineffective (L)
West Virginia	   12		Ineffective (L)
Nebraska	   11		Ineffective (L)
Arizona		   10		Effective (CR)
Illinois	    9		Ineffective (L)
Kansas		    7		Effective (L)
South Carolina	    7		Ineffective (LR)
Hawaii		    5		No Reform
Massachusetts	    4		No Reform
Oregon		    2		Effective (CR)
Delaware	    0		Ineffective (L)
Georgia		    0		Effective (L & LR)
Idaho		    0		Effective (L)
South Dakota	    0		Effective (L)
Wyoming		    0		No Reform
Alabama		    0		Effective (L)
Alaska		    0		Ineffective (L)
Iowa		    0		Ineffective (L)
Louisiana	    0		Effective (LR)
Maine		    0		Ineffective (L)
Mississippi	    0		No Reform
Montana		    0		No Reform
New Hampshire	    0		Effective (L & LR)
New Mexico	    0		No Reform
North Carolina	    0		Ineffective (L)
North Dakota	    0		Effective (CR)
Oklahoma	    0		No Reform
Washington	    0		No Reform
Wisconsin	    0		Ineffective (L)

L=Reform enacted by state legislature;
CR=Reform enacted by citizen-initiated referendum;
LR=Reform enacted by legislature-initiated referendum.

Prof. Somin details in her monograph, why certain States laws are ineffective. A good read if you are at all interested in this stuff.