By JANE HOUIN
Ohio Correspondent

COLUMBUS, Ohio — In a show of visual force, members of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation (OFBF) last week called on state lawmakers to better protect private property rights.

Wearing large red badges that read “Stop Taking Our Property,” a group of 37 farmers expressed support for two proposals to reform Ohio’s eminent domain laws during a meeting of the Senate State and Local Government and Veterans Affairs Committee.

“By our presence, we wanted to emphasize to the committee the importance of passing these proposals in their current form,” said Doug Foxx, OFBF director of political education. “The abuse of eminent domain has long been a concern of Ohio farmers and we are glad to now see widespread public support to move this issue forward.”

Senate Bill 7, introduced by Sen. Timothy Grendell, R-Chesterland, outlines specific conditions that must exist for government to take private property. It also includes measures to ensure the fair treatment of property owners. Senate Joint Resolution 1 would place a constitutional amendment before Ohio voters stating that eminent domain could not be used for economic development purposes.

Before traveling to the Statehouse, the farmers met with Grendell, who said eminent domain reform would not be possible without the support of OFBF. He said that over the years, government takings of private property have strayed from their original purpose of benefiting the public.

“The law favors the government. The process favors the government. And that’s just not right,” he said.

Darrell Wilson, a grain farmer from Preble County, told the committee that landowners have few options when faced with eminent domain takings. He indicated that farmers are ready to press lawmakers on the issue. “You see these red badges,” he said, motioning to the farmers behind him. “We’re a unified body. We’re the Ohio Farm Bureau members.”

The bill is currently pending in the Senate State and Local Government and Veterans Affairs Committee, of which Grendell is the vice chair. Last summer, the Ohio Supreme Court made what the Institute for Justice called a historic ruling against eminent domain abuse when it ruled the city of Norwood could not cure eminent law to take property for the purpose of private development: specifically a complex of chain stores, condominiums and office space.

In the unanimous decision, the Court laid out a series of important legal opinions, specifically rejecting the Supreme Court’s infamous Kelo decision of June 2005 where the Court held that local governments could take property from one person and transfer it to another because the new owner might produce more taxes or more jobs than the current one – so-called economic development.
Secondly, the Court rules state courts must apply “heightened scrutiny” to uses of eminent domain, especially when the property is being taken for use by another private party.

“The Court stopped the abuse of eminent domain by Norwood and told Ohio courts that it is their job to enforce the Constitution and make sure that eminent domain really is for public use,” said Institute for Justice (IJ) Senior Attorney Dana Berlinger, who argued the case before the Supreme Court, after the ruling.

“Ohio has a terrible history of its cities abusing eminent domain for private development, and that abuse would have increased exponentially if the Court had ruled in favor of Norwood.”
IJ Senior Attorney Scott Bullock agreed the decision was a victory, and said the decision will also affect future legislation.

“The Court has just told the Legislature that it cannot use the kinds of vague and standardless definitions that are so common under current Ohio law,” Bullock said, adding that this “decision starts the reform of Ohio’s terrible eminent domain laws, but it is up to the Legislature to complete the task.”

The Kelo decision has touched off a revolution, not only in state supreme courts like Ohio’s, but also in state legislatures throughout the country. As of last July, 30 state legislatures had passed laws giving greater protections for home and small business owners.

As Ohio’s largest farm organization, OFBF represents approximately 60,000 farmers and rural landowners. Including its associate members, the organization serves 225,000 Ohioans.