The following is taken from an e-mail distributed by the John William Pope Civitas Institute:

In one of the most intrusive overreaches by government since the Kelo decision, the Judiciary I Committee of the North Carolina House of Representatives passed a bill (HB 259) that would outlaw smoking in all workplaces, restaurants, bars and private clubs. Passed last week by a vote of 9-4, the bill is being pushed by Democrat Majority Leader Hugh Holliman (D-Davidson), and will be considered by the full House in the near future. While seemingly altruistic in nature, this bill’s draconian scope would eliminate a property owner’s right to allow a legal activity to take place on his premises.

The N.C. Association of Realtors has launched a new Web site to help stop a proposed NC Home Tax. The domain is: itsabadidea.org.

Here is the basic “about us” info from the home page: “Welcome to our site, which is the voice representing hundreds of thousands of North Carolina homeowners who oppose home taxes. Bills now being considered in the State Legislature would force the home sellers to pay a 1% sales tax. Taxing the equity in our homes - it’s a bad idea. Get the facts about this issue and learn how you can help stop the NC Home Tax.”

Special thanks to the folks at the John Locke Foundation for posting this morsel: apparently, the private property which the now infamous Kelo decision allowed the city of New London, CT to seize from its rightful owners is sitting undeveloped. Click here for the article.

Interesting article in Tax-Increment Financing (TIF):

3/23/07 - RALEIGH - When Kane Realty asked Raleigh officials for $75 million to help build North Hills East last year, it kicked off a debate within City Hall about the appropriateness of lending money to developers. more…

Senate Bill 38, an eminent domain amendment introduced by Senator Fred Smith, was sent to the Ways & Means Committee on February 12.

Earlier, we reported that House Bill 878 had been referred to the Committee Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House on 03/19/2007.

Below is a list of the committee’s leadership and members, along with a breakdown of where they stand on the issue of a constitutional amendment to prevent eminent domain abuse. If the legislator in question responded to our 2006 legislative candidate survey, a link to their response is provided below.

Chairman: Rep. Bill Owens (D-Elizabeth City). Supports amendment (co-sponsor of HB 878).

Vice Chair: Rep. Rick Glazier (D-Fayetteville). Did not respond to candidate survey.

Vice Chair: Rep. Dewey Hill (D-Whiteville). Supports Amendment (co-sponsor of HB 878).

According to the N.C. General Assembly Web site, House Bill 878 (the bipartisan eminent domain amendment introduced last week) was referred to the Committee Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House on 03/19/2007.

Last year’s legislative leadership sent a similar bill to the rules committee to die. We hope this year’s House leadership will do the right thing: allow this bill, which has more than 80 sponsors and co-sponsors, to receive a fair hearing on the House floor.

The people of North Carolina deserve nothing less.

Daren Bakst of the John Locke Foundation posted the following on the foundation’s Blog, The Locker Room. Click here for the link.

Kelo-Type Takings: Bad for the Economy

This interesting and concise study by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis is worth a read. It does an excellent job of explaining the difference between a private and public good and using this difference as the distinction in understanding a “public use.”

It also explains why economic development takings are bad for economic development. From the article’s conclusion:

A bipartisan bill introduced in yesterday the N.C. House of Representatives would allow North Carolinians to vote on an amendment to protect our private property from eminent domain abuse. A similar amendment was proposed during the 2006 legislative session, but was sent to die in a committee.

House Bill 878 was introduced by Representatives Paul Stam (R-Wake), Dan Blue (D-Wake), David Lewis (R-Harnett) and Jim Harrell (D-Surry). According to a release from Rep. Stam, the bill has 81 additional co-sponsors.

It is our hope that this amendment will be given fair consideration by the legislative leadership.