I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3135 
To protect private property rights. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 30, 2005 
Mr. SENSENBRENNER (for himself, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. DELAY, Mr. BLUNT, 
Ms. WATERS, Mr. COBLE, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr. GALLEGLY, Mr. 
GOODLATTE, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California, Mr. 
JENKINS, Mr. CANNON, Mr. BACHUS, Mr. HOSTETTLER, Mr. FLAKE, 
Mr. PENCE, Mr. FORBES, Mr. KING of Iowa, Mr. FEENEY, Mr. ISSA, Mr. 
FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. GOHMERT, Mr. ADERHOLT, Mr. ALEXANDER, 
Mrs. BIGGERT, Mr. BOEHNER, Mr. BONILLA, Mrs. BONO, Mr. BRADLEY 
of New Hampshire, Mr. BUYER, Mr. DAVIS of Tennessee, Mr. DEFAZIO, 
Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mrs. DRAKE, Mrs. EMERSON, Mr. FOSSELLA, Ms. 
FOXX, Mr. GIBBONS, Mr. GRAVES, Ms. HARRIS, Mr. HAYWORTH, Mr. 
HERGER, Ms. HERSETH, Mrs. JOHNSON of Connecticut, Mr. JONES of 
North Carolina, Mr. KIRK, Mr. KLINE, Mr. MACK, Mr. MCCAUL of 
Texas, 
Mr. 
MCCOTTER, 
Miss 
MCMORRIS, 
Mrs. 
MYRICK, 
Mr. 
NEUGEBAUER, Mr. NORWOOD, Mr. OTTER, Mr. PETERSON of Pennsyl-
vania, Mr. POMBO, Mr. RAMSTAD, Mr. RYUN of Kansas, Mr. SIMPSON, 
Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina, Mr. TIAHRT, Mr. WALDEN of Oregon, 
Mr. CRENSHAW, Mr. BURGESS, Mr. BONNER, Mr. POE, Mr. HEFLEY, 
Mr. KENNEDY of Minnesota, Mr. RADANOVICH, Mrs. MILLER of Michi-
gan, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. FILNER, Mr. GINGREY, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr. 
REICHERT, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. BROWN of South Carolina, 
Mr. WESTMORELAND, Mr. SODREL, Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE of Flor-
ida, Mr. GILLMOR, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, 
Mr. MILLER of Florida, Mr. OSBORNE, Mr. PEARCE, Mrs. JO ANN DAVIS 
of Virginia, Mrs. BLACKBURN, and Mr. PRICE of Georgia) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To protect private property rights.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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 any political subdivi-
sion of a State shall use economic development as a reason 
for exercising its power of eminent domain if Federal 
funds would contribute in any way to— 
(1) the project for which the State’s or political 
subdivision’s power of eminent domain is exercised; 
or 
(2) the exercise and enforcement of the eminent 
domain power over that project. 
(b) INELIGIBILITY FOR FEDERAL FUNDS.—A viola-
tion of subsection (a) renders such State or political sub-
division ineligible for any Federal funds described in that 
subsection and any Federal agency charged with distrib-
uting those funds shall withhold them.
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON EMINENT DOMAIN ABUSE BY THE 
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. 
The Federal Government or any authority of the Fed-
eral Government shall not use economic development as 
a reason for exercising its power of eminent domain. 
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act the following definitions apply: 
(1) 
ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT.—The 
term 
‘‘economic development’’ means any activity, includ-
ing increasing tax revenue, other than making pri-
vate property available in substantial part for use by 
the general public or by an entity that makes the 
property available for use by the general public, or 
as a public facility, or to remove harmful effects. 
(2) 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. 
Æ