Proposition 98

Friends,

There’s an important measure on the ballot that, if approved, would provide essential protection for anyone who owns private property, including homes, businesses, and farms, from having their property taken through the use of eminent domain by local municipalities for private – not public – gain.

I’m urging you to vote “YES” on Proposition 98, the California Property Owners & Farmland Protection Act, which calls for restoration of fundamental property rights by prohibiting governments from taking property from a private property owner and giving it to another private property owner.

Cash-strapped local governments are currently employing their eminent domain powers to make land grabs across the state, taking homes, mom and pop shops, and long-standing businesses, and replacing them with large retail complexes and other projects in order to boost their tax revenue base. Passage of Prop. 98 will ensure that eminent domain laws be employed only to obtain land for public infrastructure projects, such as new freeways, parks, roads, and schools. The measure would create protection for two critical components of the American dream – homeownership and the small business sector – and will go a long way to ensure that eminent domain laws are restored to their original purpose: public land improvements.On the same ballot is Proposition 99, which calls for some eminent domain protections, but only for owner-occupied single-family residences where the owner has lived for at least one year. The limitations of this measure are dangerously exclusive and will undo the provisions of Prop. 98 if both measures are passed. Please vote “NO” on Prop. 99 to ensure a clear path to victory for Prop. 98.

Thank you!

JOHN