JACKSON, MS (WLBT) - The Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation has delivered more than 119-thousand certified signatures to Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, so that the issue of eminent domain reform can be placed on the November 2011 ballot.
Several attempts to get an eminent domain reform bill passed in the legislature have failed, so the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation decided to go the initiative route and have gathered enough signatures to let the people of Mississippi speak on the issue of private property rights.
Perhaps the best example of what the new law would do, was up in Madison County in 2002 and 2003. A landowner, James Alonzo Archie, almost lost his land by eminent domain for the new Nissan plant. He favors a constitutional amendment that would prohibit that.
It will take two weeks to a month for the secretary of state to determine if the petition meets the requirements of state law.
It takes at least 85,285 certified signatures of registered voters to get the issue on the ballot. The Secretary of State's office will have to verify the signatures on the petition.
Legislators passed an eminent bill similar to what the federation is proposing in 2009, but Governor Haley Barbour vetoed it. The governor said the land-taking restriction could hurt efforts to attract jobs.
©2010 WLBT. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
WLBT 3 - Fox 40
