Action Alert!: Tell Your Assemblymember to Support ACA 8
The Director of the California Redevelopment Association (and CHC board member) John Shirey is urging the housing sector to step up and support the eminent domain reform constitutional amendment known as ACA 8 (De La Torre) – it will likely be up for a vote in the Assembly during the first week of September. Because the bill requires a two-thirds vote for passage, it’s particularly important that we reach out to Republican members of the Assembly, many of whom are sympathetic to the sound and reasonable reforms planned under ACA 8 (for contact information of your Assembly representative, please visit www.assembly.ca.gov and click on “Find My District” in the menu on the left). You will recall that the California Redevelopment Association and the League of California Cities lead the fight last fall to defeat Prop 90, a government takings initiative masquerading as eminent domain reform and bankrolled by out-of-state interests.
This year the CRA and the League have been working with the legislature to guard against another Prop 90 campaign in the future by providing constitutional prohibitions against using eminent domain to take private homes (including townhomes, condos, and duplexes), small businesses, and churches to convey to a private party. These measures would directly address public concerns stemming from the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2005 ruling Kelo v. New London that local government might act capriciously in using eminent domain powers for public purposes. California’s redevelopment law has heretofore preempted such abuses and, in fact, has been pivotal in catalyzing a host of public-purpose infrastructure projects related to transportation, education, and affordable housing. (FYI, a companion piece of statutory legislation known as AB 887 is simultaneously wending its way through the legislature; both the statutory and constitutional measures are necessary to update California’s redevelopment law.)
CHC's letter to Republican Assembly Members is below. You may use this letter as talking points for writing your own letter:
September 6, 2007
Hon. Assembly Member ________
State Capitol, Room _______
Sacramento, CA 94249-___
Dear Assembly Member _______:
The purpose of this letter is to urge your support the eminent domain reform constitutional amendment known as ACA 8 (De La Torre) and its companion legislation AB 887.
ACA 8 will provide California with constitutional prohibitions against using eminent domain to take private homes (including townhomes, condos, and duplexes), small businesses, and churches to convey to a private party. These measures would directly address public concerns stemming from the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2005 ruling Kelo v. New London that local government might act capriciously in using eminent domain powers for public purposes. California’s redevelopment law has heretofore pre-empted such abuses and, in fact, has been pivotal in catalyzing a host of public-purpose infrastructure projects related to transportation, education, and affordable housing.
The California Housing Consortium (CHC) is the state’s “big tent” affordable housing association that brings together builders, for-profit and non-profit developers, lenders and investors, and public agencies to advance prudent housing policies – from sustaining catalytic public funding to improving land use planning and pursuing regulatory reforms. CHC co-directed the successful PROP 1C housing bond in 2006 and this year we have been engaged with legislative leadership in the enabling legislation to program over $1 billion of PROP 1C funding to create incentives for infill and transit-oriented development, housing-related infrastructure and parks, as well as housing innovation programs. We also campaigned against last fall’s Proposition 90, the government takings initiative disguised as eminent domain reform. If you would like more information on CHC you can find it on our website at www.calhsng.org.
Ensuring California’s prosperity by protecting this critical tool to address public infrastructure needs is a non-partisan issue—we strongly urge your support of ACA 8 and AB 887 in order to curb eminent domain abuses. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at 415.677.4436 or jloustau@calhsng.org. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey J. Loustau
Executive Director
