Off the Kuff: What's the rush?
Off the Kuff: What's the rush?: "The Senate has approved the proposed constitutional amendment restricting eminent domain, but not without some grumbling.
'While most people, including me, think they knew what public use was, the Supreme Court said that public use could include things like economic development,' said Sen. Kyle Janek, R-Houston, the bill's author.
'The ownership of land is precious to the people of this state,' Janek said. 'I think people value those investments as much as they do anything else, perhaps maybe more than we do our pickup trucks.'
Janek said he agreed to an amendment exempting a proposed $650 million stadium in Arlington for the Dallas Cowboys because he thought it was necessary to move the bill forward.
However, he successfully fought off attempts by Houston Republican Sen. Jon Lindsay, who wanted to subject the bill to required review in two to four years.
Houston Democrat Sen. John Whitmire and Janek engaged in a heated debate as Whitmire repeatedly urged lawmakers to slow down and study the issue more, pointing out that local officials wanting to pursue economic development projects are elected officials.
Whitmire's complaint about the speed with which this measure got approved mirrors that of Kip Averitt on the telecom bill. I favor the concept behind this bill, but I think Whitmire's right to worry. This wouldn't be the first time that a bill was passed without a clear understanding of what it would actually do, and given how little time there's been since this was added to the agenda, it's easy to imagine that there may be gotchas lurking. And of course, since this is a constitutional amendment, fixing any glaring problems that crop up later on is nontrivial."
'While most people, including me, think they knew what public use was, the Supreme Court said that public use could include things like economic development,' said Sen. Kyle Janek, R-Houston, the bill's author.
'The ownership of land is precious to the people of this state,' Janek said. 'I think people value those investments as much as they do anything else, perhaps maybe more than we do our pickup trucks.'
Janek said he agreed to an amendment exempting a proposed $650 million stadium in Arlington for the Dallas Cowboys because he thought it was necessary to move the bill forward.
However, he successfully fought off attempts by Houston Republican Sen. Jon Lindsay, who wanted to subject the bill to required review in two to four years.
Houston Democrat Sen. John Whitmire and Janek engaged in a heated debate as Whitmire repeatedly urged lawmakers to slow down and study the issue more, pointing out that local officials wanting to pursue economic development projects are elected officials.
Whitmire's complaint about the speed with which this measure got approved mirrors that of Kip Averitt on the telecom bill. I favor the concept behind this bill, but I think Whitmire's right to worry. This wouldn't be the first time that a bill was passed without a clear understanding of what it would actually do, and given how little time there's been since this was added to the agenda, it's easy to imagine that there may be gotchas lurking. And of course, since this is a constitutional amendment, fixing any glaring problems that crop up later on is nontrivial."
posted by Unknown at 9:56 PM
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