quent year thereafter, the Attorney 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 violations reported by property 
owners and tenants under section 5(c) of this Act; 
(3) identify the percentage of minority residents 
compared to the surrounding nonminority residents 
and the median incomes of those impacted by a vio-
lation of this Act; 
(4) identify all lawsuits brought by the Attorney 
General under section 5(d) of this Act; 
(5) 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; and 
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(6) discuss all instances in which a State or po-
litical subdivision has cured a violation as described 
in section 2(c) of this Act. 
(b) DUTY OF STATES.—Each State and local author-
ity that is subject to a private right of action under this 
Act shall have the duty to report to the Attorney General 
such information with respect to such State and local au-
thorities as the Attorney General needs to make the report 
required under subsection (a). 
SEC. 8. 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-
stitution, which requires that private property shall 
not be taken ‘‘for public use, without just compensa-
tion’’. 
(2) Rural lands are unique in that they are not 
traditionally considered high tax revenue-generating 
properties for State and local governments. In addi-
tion, farmland and forest land owners need to have 
long-term certainty regarding their property rights 
in order to make the investment decisions to commit 
land to these uses. 
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(3) Ownership rights in rural land are funda-
mental building blocks for our Nation’s agriculture 
industry, which continues to be one of the most im-
portant economic sectors of our economy. 
(4) In the wake of the Supreme Court’s deci-
sion in Kelo v. City of New London, abuse of emi-
nent domain is a threat to the property rights of all 
private property owners, including rural land own-
ers. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that the use of eminent domain for the purpose of 
economic development is a threat to agricultural and other 
property in rural America and that the Congress should 
protect the property rights of Americans, including those 
who reside in rural areas. Property rights are central to 
liberty in this country and to our economy. The use of 
eminent domain to take farmland and other rural property 
for economic development threatens liberty, rural econo-
mies, and the economy of the United States. The taking 
of farmland and rural property will have a direct impact 
on existing irrigation and reclamation projects. Further-
more, the use of eminent domain to take rural private 
property for private commercial uses will force increasing 
numbers of activities from private property onto this Na-
tion’s public lands, including its National forests, National 
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parks and wildlife refuges. This increase can overburden 
the infrastructure of these lands, reducing the enjoyment 
of such lands for all citizens. Americans should not have 
to fear the government’s taking their homes, farms, or 
businesses to give to other persons. Governments should 
not abuse the power of eminent domain to force rural 
property owners from their land in order to develop rural 
land into industrial and commercial property. Congress 
has a duty to protect the property rights of rural Ameri-
cans in the face of eminent domain abuse. 
SEC. 9. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the policy of the United States to encourage, 
support, and promote the private ownership of property 
and to ensure that the constitutional and other legal rights 
of private property owners are protected by the Federal 
Government. 
SEC. 10. RELIGIOUS AND NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS. 
(a) PROHIBITION ON STATES.—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 of a religious or other nonprofit organization by 
reason of the nonprofit or tax-exempt status of such orga-
nization, or any quality related thereto if that State or 
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political subdivision receives Federal economic develop-
ment 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-
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. 
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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. 
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: 
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(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; 
(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; 
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(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)). 
(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. 
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(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 
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. 
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Union Calendar No. 666 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 1689 
[Report No. 115–859] 
A BILL 
To protect private property rights. 
JULY 23, 2018 
Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 
State of the Union and ordered to be printed 
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