Richardson backs eminent domain restrictions

Gov. Bill Richardson will support legislation in the 2007 session that takes away the ability of local governments to exercise eminent domain to make way for commercial development.

Richardson vetoed similar legislation earlier this year, but told the Las Cruces Sun-News he did that because the Republican bill lacked some protections for local governments that the new proposal will contain. The new proposal is the result of a task force study that has taken most of the year.

“The bill that I vetoed last session would have created more problems than it resolved,” the newspaper quoted Richardson as saying. “The task force produced a solution that is more realistic, and will not prevent municipalities from cleaning up nuisance properties that place communities at risk. Most importantly, it will protect private property owners from unnecessary condemnation.”

The executive director of the New Mexico Municipal League told the Sun-News that the organization will fight the bill, saying eminent domain decisions should be left up to municipalities.

The topic has been controversial since the United States Supreme Court ruled in 2004 that local governments could utilize eminent domain not only for its traditional uses of making way for necessary infrastructure and to clean up run-down areas, but also to make way for commercial development.