I 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 926 
To prohibit the provision of Federal economic development assistance for 
any State or locality that uses the power of eminent domain power 
to obtain property for private commercial development or that fails to 
pay relocation costs to persons displaced by use of the power of eminent 
domain for economic development purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 8, 2007 
Ms. HERSETH (for herself, Mr. GOODLATTE, Mr. BOYD of Florida, Mrs. 
DRAKE, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr. LUCAS, Mr. KING of 
Iowa, Mr. KUCINICH, and Ms. WATERS) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to 
the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure, Financial Services, 
Natural Resources, and Education and Labor, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To prohibit the provision of Federal economic development 
assistance for any State or locality that uses the power 
of eminent domain power to obtain property for private 
commercial development or that fails to pay relocation 
costs to persons displaced by use of the power of eminent 
domain for economic development purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strengthening the 
Ownership of Private Property Act of 2007’’ or the 
‘‘STOPP Act of 2007’’. 
SEC. 2. CONDITIONS OF FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE UNDER 
FEDERAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PRO-
GRAMS. 
(a) PROHIBITION OF ASSISTANCE.— 
(1) PROHIBITION.—If, after the date of the en-
actment of this Act, an entity using the power of a 
State engages in any conduct described in subsection 
(b), no officer or employee of the Federal Govern-
ment having responsibility over Federal financial as-
sistance under any Federal economic development 
program shall make such assistance available to the 
relevant entity during the period described in para-
graph (3). 
(2) ENTITY TO WHICH ASSISTANCE IS PROHIB-
ITED.—In this subsection, the term ‘‘relevant enti-
ty’’ means— 
(A) the entity engaging in the conduct de-
scribed in subsection (b), if that entity is a 
State or a unit of general local government of 
a State; and 
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(B) the State or unit of general local gov-
ernment that gave authority for the entity to 
engage in that conduct, in any other case. 
(3) DURATION OF PROHIBITION.—The period 
referred to in paragraph (1) is the period that be-
gins on the date the officer or employee of the Fed-
eral Government having responsibility over Federal 
financial assistance under the Federal economic de-
velopment program determines that the relevant en-
tity has engaged in the conduct described in sub-
section (b) and ends with the earlier of— 
(A) the day that is two years after the date 
the period began; or 
(B) the day that the property is returned 
to the entity from whom the property was 
taken. 
(b) CONDUCT RESULTING IN PROHIBITION OF AS-
SISTANCE.—The conduct referred to in subsection (a) is 
the following: 
(1) USE OF EMINENT DOMAIN TO TAKE PRI-
VATE PROPERTY AND TRANSFER TO A PRIVATE EN-
TITY.—Any use of the power of eminent domain to 
take property from a private entity and transfer the 
ownership of, or a leasehold interest, in the property 
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(or a portion thereof) to another private entity, ex-
cept for a transfer— 
(A) for use by a public utility; 
(B) for a road or other right of way or 
means, open to the public or common carriers, 
for transportation; 
(C) for an aqueduct, pipeline, or similar 
use; 
(D) for a prison or hospital; or 
(E) for any use during and in relation to 
a national emergency or national disaster de-
clared by the President under other law. 
(2) FAILURE TO PROVIDE RELOCATION ASSIST-
ANCE FOR PERSONS DISPLACED BY USE OF EMI-
NENT
DOMAIN
FOR
ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT.— 
Failing to provide, to any person displaced from 
property by the use of the power of eminent domain 
for any economic development purpose, relocation 
assistance under the Uniform Relocation Assistance 
and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970 
(42 U.S.C. 4601 et seq.) in the same manner and 
to the same extent as relocation assistance would be 
required under such Act to be provided by a Federal 
agency that undertakes a program or project that 
results in displacement of the person. 
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