Sponsor Will Try Again With Property Rights Bill

State Rep. Jim Kempton plans to introduce a clearer version of a private property rights bill that sailed through the House last winter but ran out of time to be considered before the Senate adjourned.

Opponents during the 1997 session argued the Albion Republican’s measure could derail local land-use planning and zoning.

Kempton said he hoped the new version of the bill would placate some critics. But the essence of the bill he plans to introduce in January remains unchanged: Landowners whose property development is limited by government decisions should have a speedier way to seek redress for lost value than going to court.

Idaho’s Constitution already requires compensation for landowners whose entire property is lost to regulatory actions. But Kempton’s bill would allow landowners to enter out-of-court arbitration if their property is devalued by at least 10 percent, and to sue if devaluation is 20 percent or more.

Last winter the legislation cleared the House 54-16, but Kempton said he expects heavier lobbying against it in 1998.

Cash-poor cities and counties fear the bill would cost them a fortune, even if they prove - as the bill requires - that they acted on behalf of the public’s “health, safety or general welfare” and need not compensate the property owner.

The bill, patterned after one adopted in Florida in 1995, would only apply to new laws and amendments to existing ones. But Kempton acknowledged the earlier version was too complicated and difficult to understand.

“That’s why I’m coming back this year with a bill that is revised and easier to read,” he said, “and that’s why I’m putting it out much earlier.”