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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Private Property 
Rights Protection Act of 2005’’. 
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON EMINENT DOMAIN ABUSE BY 
STATES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—No State or political subdivision 
of a State shall exercise its power of eminent domain, or 
allow the exercise of such power by any person or entity 
to which such power has been delegated, over property to 
be used for economic development or over property that 
is subsequently used for economic development, if that 
State or political subdivision receives Federal economic de-
velopment funds during any fiscal year in which it does 
so. 
(b) INELIGIBILITY FOR FEDERAL FUNDS.—A viola-
tion of subsection (a) by a State or political subdivision 
shall render such State or political subdivision ineligible 
for any Federal economic development funds for a period 
of 2 fiscal years following a final judgment on the merits 
by a court of competent jurisdiction that such subsection 
has been violated, and any Federal agency charged with 
distributing those funds shall withhold them for such 2- 
year period, and any such funds distributed to such State 
or political subdivision shall be returned or reimbursed by 
such State or political subdivision to the appropriate Fed-
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eral agency or authority of the Federal Government, or 
component thereof. 
(c) OPPORTUNITY TO CURE VIOLATION.—A State or 
political subdivision shall not be ineligible for any Federal 
economic development funds under subsection (b) if such 
State or political subdivision returns all real property the 
taking of which was found by a court of competent juris-
diction to have constituted a violation of subsection (a) 
and replaces any other property destroyed and repairs any 
other property damaged as a result of such violation. 
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON EMINENT DOMAIN ABUSE BY THE 
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. 
The Federal Government or any authority of the Fed-
eral Government shall not exercise its power of eminent 
domain to be used for economic development. 
SEC. 4. PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION. 
(a) CAUSE OF ACTION.—Any owner of private prop-
erty who suffers injury as a result of a violation of any 
provision of this Act may bring an action to enforce any 
provision of this Act in the appropriate Federal or State 
court, and a State shall not be immune under the eleventh 
amendment to the Constitution of the United States from 
any such action in a Federal or State court of competent 
jurisdiction. In such action, the defendant has the burden 
to show by clear and convincing evidence that the taking
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is not for economic development. Any such property owner 
may also seek any appropriate relief through a preliminary 
injunction or a temporary restraining order. 
(b) LIMITATION ON BRINGING ACTION.—An action 
brought under this Act may be brought if the property 
is used for economic development following the conclusion 
of any condemnation proceedings condemning the private 
property of such property owner, but shall not be brought 
later than seven years following the conclusion of any such 
proceedings and the subsequent use of such condemned 
property for economic development. 
(c) ATTORNEYS’ FEE AND OTHER COSTS.—In any 
action or proceeding under this Act, the court shall allow 
a prevailing plaintiff a reasonable attorneys’ fee as part 
of the costs, and include expert fees as part of the attor-
neys’ fee. 
SEC. 5. NOTIFICATION BY ATTORNEY GENERAL. 
(a) NOTIFICATION TO STATES AND POLITICAL SUB-
DIVISIONS.— 
(1) Not later than 30 days after the enactment 
of this Act, the Attorney General shall provide to the 
chief executive officer of each State the text of this 
Act and a description of the rights of property own-
ers under this Act.
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(2) Not later than 120 days after the enact-
ment of this Act, the Attorney General shall compile 
a list of the Federal laws under which Federal eco-
nomic development funds are distributed. The Attor-
ney General shall compile annual revisions of such 
list as necessary. Such list and any successive revi-
sions of such list shall be communicated by the At-
torney General to the chief executive officer of each 
State and also made available on the Internet 
website maintained by the United States Depart-
ment of Justice for use by the public and by the au-
thorities in each State and political subdivisions of 
each State empowered to take private property and 
convert it to public use subject to just compensation 
for the taking. 
(b) NOTIFICATION
TO PROPERTY OWNERS.—Not 
later than 30 days after the enactment of this Act, the 
Attorney General shall publish in the Federal Register and 
make available on the Internet website maintained by the 
United States Department of Justice a notice containing 
the text of this Act and a description of the rights of prop-
erty owners under this Act. 
SEC. 6. REPORT. 
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 
of this Act, and every subsequent year thereafter, the At-
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torney General shall transmit a report identifying States 
or political subdivisions that have used eminent domain 
in violation of this Act to the Chairman and Ranking 
Member of the Committee on the Judiciary of the House 
of Representatives and to the Chairman and Ranking 
Member of the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate. 
The report shall— 
(1) identify all private rights of action brought 
as a result of a State’s or political subdivision’s vio-
lation of this Act; 
(2) identify all States or political subdivisions 
that have lost Federal economic development funds 
as a result of a violation of this Act, as well as de-
scribe the type and amount of Federal economic de-
velopment funds lost in each State or political sub-
division and the Agency that is responsible for with-
holding such funds; 
(3) discuss all instances in which a State or po-
litical subdivision has cured a violation as described 
in section 2(c) of this Act. 
SEC. 7. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING RURAL AMERICA. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following: 
(1) The founders realized the fundamental im-
portance of property rights when they codified the 
Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the Con-