such State or political subdivision to the appropriate Fed-
eral agency or authority of the Federal Government, or 
component thereof. 
(c) PROHIBITION ON FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.—The 
Federal Government or any authority of the Federal Gov-
ernment shall not exercise its power of eminent domain 
over property of a religious or other nonprofit organization 
by reason of the nonprofit or tax-exempt status of such 
organization, or any quality related thereto. 
SEC. 11. REPORT BY FEDERAL AGENCIES ON REGULATIONS 
AND PROCEDURES RELATING TO EMINENT 
DOMAIN. 
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the head of each Executive department 
and agency shall review all rules, regulations, and proce-
dures and report to the Attorney General on the activities 
of that department or agency to bring its rules, regula-
tions and procedures into compliance with this Act. 
SEC. 12. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that any and all pre-
cautions shall be taken by the government to avoid the 
unfair or unreasonable taking of property away from sur-
vivors of Hurricane Katrina who own, were bequeathed, 
or assigned such property, for economic development pur-
poses or for the private use of others. 
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SEC. 13. DISPROPORTIONATE IMPACT. 
If the court determines that a violation of this Act 
has occurred, and that the violation has a disproportion-
ately high impact on the poor or minorities, the Attorney 
General shall use reasonable efforts to locate former own-
ers and tenants and inform them of the violation and any 
remedies they may have. 
SEC. 14. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act the following definitions apply: 
(1) 
ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT.—The 
term 
‘‘economic development’’ means taking private prop-
erty, without the consent of the owner, and con-
veying or leasing such property from one private 
person or entity to another private person or entity 
for commercial enterprise carried on for profit, or to 
increase tax revenue, tax base, employment, or gen-
eral economic health, except that such term shall not 
include— 
(A) conveying private property— 
(i) to public ownership, such as for a 
road, hospital, airport, or military base; 
(ii) to an entity, such as a common 
carrier, that makes the property available 
to the general public as of right, such as 
a railroad or public facility; 
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(iii) for use as a road or other right 
of way or means, open to the public for 
transportation, whether free or by toll; and 
(iv) for use as an aqueduct, flood con-
trol facility, pipeline, or similar use; 
(B) removing harmful uses of land pro-
vided such uses constitute an immediate threat 
to public health and safety; 
(C) leasing property to a private person or 
entity that occupies an incidental part of public 
property or a public facility, such as a retail es-
tablishment on the ground floor of a public 
building; 
(D) acquiring abandoned property; 
(E) clearing defective chains of title; 
(F) taking private property for use by a 
utility providing electric, natural gas, tele-
communication, water, wastewater, or other 
utility services either directly to the public or 
indirectly through provision of such services at 
the wholesale level for resale to the public; and 
(G) redeveloping of a brownfield site as de-
fined in the Small Business Liability Relief and 
Brownfields Revitalization Act (42 U.S.C. 
9601(39)). 
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(2) 
FEDERAL
ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT 
FUNDS.—The term ‘‘Federal economic development 
funds’’ means any Federal funds distributed to or 
through States or political subdivisions of States 
under Federal laws designed to improve or increase 
the size of the economies of States or political sub-
divisions of States. 
(3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 
the several States, the District of Columbia, the 
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any other terri-
tory or possession of the United States. 
SEC. 15. LIMITATION ON STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION. 
Nothing in this Act may be construed to supersede, 
limit, or otherwise affect any provision of the Uniform Re-
location Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies 
Act of 1970 (42 U.S.C. 4601 et seq.). 
SEC. 16. BROAD CONSTRUCTION. 
This Act shall be construed in favor of a broad pro-
tection of private property rights, to the maximum extent 
permitted by the terms of this Act and the Constitution. 
SEC. 17. SEVERABILITY AND EFFECTIVE DATE. 
(a) SEVERABILITY.—The provisions of this Act are 
severable. If any provision of this Act, or any application 
thereof, is found unconstitutional, that finding shall not 
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affect any provision or application of the Act not so adju-
dicated. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This Act shall take effect 
upon the first day of the first fiscal year that begins after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, but shall not apply 
to any project for which condemnation proceedings have 
been initiated prior to the date of enactment. 
Æ 
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