Group launches constitutional initiative on takings

United Property Owners of Montana, a grassroots coalition of landowners, sportsmen, and allied businesses, has filed a constitutional ballot initiative designed to fix inequalities in Montana's eminent domain laws regarding takings. Under current law a property owner is paid compensation only when a government action reduces a property's value in its entirety, meaning that governments can take actions that significantly impact property values without owing any compensation. For example: If your property is reduced by 100 percent you get paid in full; if it's only reduced 95 percent, you get no compensation whatsoever. Toby Dahl, a UPOM board director from Roundup, pointed out this initiative was designed to be a "look-before-you-leap" policy for government. "This just makes sure that we're taking impacts on private property into account before we enact a new regulation," said Dahl. The ballot initiative proposal would amend the eminent domain section of the constitution to provide that if a government regulation diminishes an individual's private property value by more than 25 percent, that property owner is owed the difference. The group said the 25 percent threshold was included to allow for normal government land-use regulations and that the intent was to address only new regulations that would have a severe impact on a person's private property value. Dahl emphasized that the primary motivation for his group was to help farmers and ranchers in rural Montana. Increasing restrictions on how private property may be used is jeopardizing the ability of the next generation of Montana farmers and ranchers to make a living off the land...Chronicle