OPINION/COMMENTARY


Utah Bans Eminent Domain Use by Redevelopment Agencies

Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. (R) on March 17 signed into law Senate Bill 184, effectively preventing the exercise of eminent domain authority by redevelopment agencies, which otherwise had the power to transfer land from one private entity to another. Local governments may still use eminent domain for more traditionally defined and understood "public purposes." Utah appears to be the first state to take legislative action to curb the use of eminent domain by local governments. The use of eminent domain by local governments has grown over the past 30 years as cities have taken private property from one owner to give or sell to another private owner whose proposed use promises increased tax revenue or other economic benefits. The Michigan supreme court ended the practice there in July 2004 by reversing the infamous 1981 Poletown decision, which had allowed a Michigan city to remove more than a thousand private homeowners from land that was then given to General Motors. The U.S. Supreme Court is considering a similar case brought by Susette Kelo against the New London Development Corporation, created by the city of New London, Connecticut. New London is trying to use its eminent domain power to take Kelo's home to give or sell to a private developer....

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