NH Senate President Thomas R. Eaton, in response to the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that local governments have the authority to seize private property for the purposes of economic development, has appointed a task force to study NH’s current laws.

“Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision that allows local governments to use eminent-domain proceedings to take property from private citizens and give it to developers so they can make a profit,” Eaton said. “This is wrong. The right to own property for personal use is fundamental to a free society.

“There are legitimate reasons why the government needs to take private property for a public project, such as road-widening or flood-control. However, the government should never be allowed to take someone’s private property just because it thinks the property could be put to better use by someone else,” he added.

Named to the task force are Senators Robert Odell and Peter Bragdon, members of the Senate Energy and Economic Development Committee, and Senators Joseph Foster, Robert Clegg, Richard Green and David Gottesman, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. (Foster and Gottesman are members of the NH Bar.)

“I am asking this bipartisan group of senators to study our current law on eminent domain and to recommend legislation to be filed next year which will guarantee that in New Hampshire we respect private-property rights and protect citizens from well-intentioned but overreaching municipalities,” Eaton said.

Edward M. (Ned) Gordon, a former state Senator, sponsored legislation that created a study committee on eminent domain which made a report in 2002. That panel made several recommendations regarding changes to eminent domain statutes mostly affecting procedures to provide individual homeowners with more avenues for review.