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| Petition Drive Started to End Eminent Domain Abuse
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December 15, 2005
Washington, D.C. - Today, the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council) launched its "Petition for Protecting the American Dream from Government Eminent Domain Abuse" on the group's website at http://www.sbecouncil.org/.
The petition spells out the threats to small business owners and homeowners when government is allowed to abuse its powers of eminent domain. The petition urges state legislators to rein in eminent domain abuses; commends the U.S. House of Representatives for overwhelmingly passing the "Private Property Rights Protection Act of 2005;" and calls on the U.S. Senate to pass the "Private Property Rights Protection Act of 2005" (H.R. 4128). When Congress returns from its break in January, the SBE Council will work to build momentum in the Senate, leveraging petition signors as a key part of its advocacy campaign calling for action.
"If you support the American Dream of owning a small business and home, then your voice needs to be heard. Small business owners and individual homeowners are most vulnerable to schemes that involve government condemning private property in violation of constitutional protections. We urge concerned Americans to sign the petition to Protect the American Dream," said SBE Council President & CEO Karen Kerrigan.
A recent report by the SBE Council -"Under Attack: Small Business Faces the Abuse of Eminent Domain" - provides examples of government abusing small businesses through misuse of eminent domain powers. The report's author, SBE Council Chief Economist Raymond J. Keating, takes to task the economics of centralized planning schemes that initiate such takings as they have a long track record of failure.
"In the Kelo v. City of New London decision, the U.S. Supreme Court exposes homeowners and small businesses - in particular, anyone lacking major political clout - to the government using eminent domain to lay claim to one's property for pretty much any reason politicians and bureaucrats deem appropriate. This is wrong from both a moral and economic perspective," declared Keating.
"The first duty of government is to protect private property. Indeed, the future of entrepreneurship is in peril as certainty with respect to property rights is central to a vibrant small business sector, and in turn a growing economy," added Kerrigan.
For more information, please call SBE Council at 202-785-0238, or visit http://www.sbecouncil.org/ for a copy of the report. For more than ten years the SBE Council, a nonpartisan, nonprofit small business advocacy group, has been working to protect small business and promote entrepreneurship.
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