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11/07/2005: "USA House restores some sanity to eminent domain"

In a previous article, I wrote about a decision made by the USA supreme court that would allow local governments to seize people's homes and businesses -- even against their will -- for private economic development. The USA government has today passed a bill that would make any government using eminent domain to seize private property for commercial use ineligible for federal funding for up to two fiscal years (more from Google News). As one comentator put it, this takes "a significant step back in the right direction". It is, however, still a reactive stance -- penalties are applied after the seizure takes place as opposed to preventing the seizure from happening in the first place. Still, with the federal government weilding such a large stick, this should discourage the states from taking such unwise action against their constituents.