Rodne bill would protect property owners from eminent domain abuse
Rep. Jay Rodne is sponsoring a measure that would prohibit the use of eminent domain for economic development. House Bill 2425 is at the request of State Attorney General Rob McKenna and has bipartisan support.
Eminent domain is the power of government to seize a citizen's property. Government must compensate a citizen for his or her property, but does not necessarily need consent.
“We've had instances in which government has seized private property under the auspices of economic development or reducing blight, and then turned around and sold that property to private developers. This is unacceptable,” said Rodne, R-North Bend. “Eminent domain power should only be for a legitimate public use. And it should be used very carefully.”
Rodne joined McKenna, other state lawmakers, policy leaders, and landowners at a news conference in Olympia today to highlight why changes to the state's eminent domain laws are needed to protect the public from unfairly losing their homes and businesses. They also discussed the findings of a recent task force study on the use and abuse of eminent domain.
The legislative session began on Jan. 11 and is scheduled to run 60 days.
