Senate Panel Approves Property Rights Bill

The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced legislation Thursday that would compensate private property owners if government regulation such as wetlands or endangered-species protection diminishes their land’s value.

The property rights legislation cleared the committee by a 10-7 vote. The measure now awaits action by the full Senate. A separate property rights bill already has been approved by the House, but the two bills are significantly different.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the committee’s chairman, said the bill would shore up the constitutional protection of property rights. It would provide relief to “hard-working family farmers and other property owners (who) are bearing the burden of economic disaster as the value of their property is siphoned away by government regulation,” he said.

The administration opposes the legislation, and President Clinton has indicated he likely will veto the bill as crafted by the Senate committee.

Interior Department spokesman Paul Beldsoe called the bill “extremely radical” and said it could lead to numerous compensation claims.