Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 23, 1995 TAG: 9505080002
SECTION: AMERICAN HOME WEEK PAGE: 15 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAT CUPP, GRI, CRS, VAR RPAC Trustee
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"If the government needs land on which to build a road, it must pay the owner. Increasingly, however, a broad range of environmental regulations, from wetlands rules to the Endangered Species Act, are invoked to deny farmers, homeowners, and business owners the use of their property without compensating them for the loss.
The National Association of REALTORS (NAR) supports amendments to the Endangered Species Act that recognize socio-economic impacts in designating a species as endangered. Under current law, only the biological impact on the species may be considered. NAR also supports amendments that would ensure that compensation be paid to private property owners who are deprived of all economically viable use of their property as the result of a species designation.
In a key victory for private property owners, the U.S. House of Representatives on March 3 approved legislation that would, in many cases, require the federal government to compensate a property owner when the government acts in ways that decrease the property's value by more than 20 percent. NAR lobbied intensely in support of the legislation.
Under the Private Property Protection Act of 1995, H.R.925, a property owner would be entitled to compensation if his property lost more than 20 percent of its value as a result of any federal agency action arising under six federal wetlands, endangered species, and water rights statutes. H.R.925 would also allow property owners whose property has been devalued by greater than 50 percent to force the federal government to purchase their property outright.
Several private property rights bills have been introduced in the Senate. It's expected they'll be combined into one comprehensive piece of property rights legislation later this year.
by CNB