[Capr-announce] Fw: I-933 definition of privatre property

[laurel at sage1.com]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Supporting I-933 Messenger 
To: message at supporting933.org 
Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2006 12:14 AM
Subject: I-933 definition of privatre property


This message is one of a series about the Property Fairness Initiative to address concerns raised by the initiative's opponents.  We hope that you find this information useful.

If you find this helps you understand I-933 better, please feel free to share it with your friends and neighbors. 



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One of the points of argument used by those who oppose the Property Fairness initiative is that it doesn't just apply to real property (land and buildings).  For example, they contend that it includes a neighbor's Harley or four-wheeler, and that all kinds of problems could result from how people who own such things want them to sound.

We think that such assumptions go well beyond what I-933 is talking about when it defines private property.  Quoting from the text of the initiative:

  "Private property" includes all real and personal property interests protected by the fifth amendment to the United States Constitution or article 1, section 16 of the state Constitution owned by a nongovernmental entity, including, but not limited to, any interest in land, buildings, crops, livestock, and mineral and water rights.

When opponents discuss their point of view, they talk about the initiative going beyond real property, but they fail to mention that the definition limits this to just property interests protected under the constitutions.  The value of such things as stocks and bonds don't have a constitutional protection, nor do you have a constitutional property right to have an unmufflered car running in your back yard.

According to the Washington Policy Center's evaluation of Initiative 933:

  One of the areas of I-933 that has drawn particular attention is its definition of "private property." The definition includes the "interest in the land" as well as "mineral and water rights." These are not unusual, as they address the land and the rights to use that land associated with zoning and other permitted activities. However, the definition also includes, but is not limited to, "buildings, crops, livestock." Other equipment has also been mentioned in public, although they are not specifically called out in the initiative. The impact of this is twofold.

  First, it is to address not only the value of the property itself, but also of the products of that land. For instance, if regulation determined that timber could not be harvested on a particular piece of land, the compensation would have to cover not only the diminished value of the land but also the lost value of the standing timber which the owner is not allowed to harvest.

  Second, it is intended to close an anticipated avenue of alternative regulation that could be used to offset government's ability to avoid paying the cost of restrictions. A jurisdiction could decide to allow a parcel to be used for grazing but prohibit cows from being on the property. Without the addition of "real and personal property,"regulators could argue that they had not actually changed the rights associated with the land but simply altered the way those rights could be used, thereby avoiding compensation.

When a compensation case reaches a court, we can anticipate that the judge will conclude that the legislative intent of I-933 in regard to more than real property alone is limited along the lines noted by the Washington Policy Center.  Far from opening the Pandora's box of horrors envisioned by the initiative's opponents, the inclusion of more than the real property alone is then limited to property employed in the productive use of the land itself.

When you sit down and think about it, the additional provision for personal property interests protected by our constitutions makes a lot of sense, is well thought out, and is very fair to the property owner.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please join us in voting YES for I-933

If you wish to be removed from this email list, please send your request to messenger at supporting933.org.


Paid for by North Olympic Counties Farm Bureau
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.celestial.com/pipermail/capr-announce/attachments/20061025/81b9e9e3/attachment.html