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Second Substitute H.B. 111

Representative Lee B. Perry proposes the following substitute bill:


             1     
EMINENT DOMAIN AMENDMENTS

             2     
2013 GENERAL SESSION

             3     
STATE OF UTAH

             4     
Chief Sponsor: Lee B. Perry

             5     
Senate Sponsor: Scott K. Jenkins

             6     
             7      LONG TITLE
             8      General Description:
             9          This bill enacts language related to an entity's power of eminent domain.
             10      Highlighted Provisions:
             11          This bill:
             12          .    enacts provisions that require the Office of the Property Rights Ombudsman to
             13      provide certain information on its website;
             14          .    amends provisions related to the proposes for which eminent domain may be used;
             15          .    enacts provisions that require a political subdivision, or a person who seeks to
             16      acquire property by eminent domain, to provide a property owner with certain
             17      information from the Office of the Property Rights Ombudsman; and
             18          .    makes technical corrections.
             19      Money Appropriated in this Bill:
             20          None
             21      Other Special Clauses:
             22          None
             23      Utah Code Sections Affected:
             24      AMENDS:
             25          13-43-203, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2008, Chapters 3, 84, and 382


             26          78B-6-501, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2012, Chapter 264
             27          78B-6-505, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2012, Chapter 264
             28     
             29      Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
             30          Section 1. Section 13-43-203 is amended to read:
             31           13-43-203. Office of the Property Rights Ombudsman -- Duties.
             32          (1) (a) The Office of the Property Rights Ombudsman shall:
             33          [(a)] (i) develop and maintain expertise in and understanding of takings, eminent
             34      domain, and land use law;
             35          (ii) clearly identify the specific information that is prepared for distribution to property
             36      owners whose land is being acquired under the provisions of Section 78B-6-505 ;
             37          [(b)] (iii) assist state agencies and local governments in developing the guidelines
             38      required by Title 63L, Chapter 4, Constitutional Taking Issues;
             39          [(c)] (iv) at the request of a state agency or local government, assist the state agency or
             40      local government, in analyzing actions with potential takings implications or other land use
             41      issues;
             42          [(d)] (v) advise real property owners who:
             43          [(i)] (A) have a legitimate potential or actual takings claim against a state or local
             44      government entity or have questions about takings, eminent domain, and land use law; or
             45          [(ii)] (B) own a parcel of property that is landlocked, as to the owner's rights and
             46      options with respect to obtaining access to a public street;
             47          [(e)] (vi) identify state or local government actions that have potential takings
             48      implications and, if appropriate, advise those state or local government entities about those
             49      implications; and
             50          [(f)] (vii) provide information to private citizens, civic groups, government entities,
             51      and other interested parties about takings, eminent domain, and land use law and their rights,
             52      including a right to just compensation, and responsibilities under the takings, eminent domain,
             53      or land use laws through seminars and publications, and by other appropriate means.
             54          (b) The Office of the Property Rights Ombudsman shall:
             55          (i) provide the information described in Section 78B-6-505 on its website in a form
             56      that is easily accessible; and


             57          (ii) ensure that the information is current.
             58          (2) The Office of the Property Rights Ombudsman may not represent private property
             59      owners, state agencies, or local governments in court or in adjudicative proceedings under Title
             60      63G, Chapter 4, Administrative Procedures Act.
             61          (3) No member of the Office of the Property Rights Ombudsman nor a neutral third
             62      party rendering an advisory opinion under Section 13-43-205 or 13-43-206 , may be compelled
             63      to testify in a civil action filed concerning the subject matter of any review, mediation, or
             64      arbitration by, or arranged through, the office.
             65          (4) (a) Except as provided in Subsection (4)(b), evidence of a review by the Office of
             66      the Property Rights Ombudsman and the opinions, writings, findings, and determinations of the
             67      Office of the Property Rights Ombudsman are not admissible as evidence in a judicial action.
             68          (b) Subsection (4)(a) does not apply to:
             69          (i) actions brought under authority of Title 78A, Chapter 8, Small Claims Courts;
             70          (ii) a judicial confirmation or review of the arbitration itself as authorized in Title 78B,
             71      Chapter 11, Utah Uniform Arbitration Act;
             72          (iii) actions for de novo review of an arbitration award or issue brought under the
             73      authority of Subsection 13-43-204 [(3)](4)(a)(i); or
             74          (iv) advisory opinions provided for in Sections 13-43-205 and 13-43-206 .
             75          Section 2. Section 78B-6-501 is amended to read:
             76           78B-6-501. Eminent domain -- Uses for which right may be exercised.
             77          Subject to the provisions of this part, the right of eminent domain may be exercised on
             78      behalf of the following public uses:
             79          (1) all public uses authorized by the federal government;
             80          (2) public buildings and grounds for the use of the state, and all other public uses
             81      authorized by the Legislature;
             82          (3) (a) public buildings and grounds for the use of any county, city, town, or board of
             83      education;
             84          (b) reservoirs, canals, aqueducts, flumes, ditches, or pipes for conducting water or
             85      sewage, including to or from a development, for the use of the inhabitants of any county, city,
             86      or town, or for the draining of any county, city, or town;
             87          (c) the raising of the banks of streams, removing obstructions from streams, and


             88      widening, deepening, or straightening their channels;
             89          (d) bicycle paths and sidewalks adjacent to paved roads;
             90          (e) roads, byroads, streets, and alleys for public vehicular use, including for access to a
             91      development, excluding trails, paths, or other ways for walking, hiking, bicycling, equestrian
             92      use, or other recreational uses, or whose primary purpose is as a foot path, equestrian trail,
             93      bicycle path, or walkway; and
             94          (f) all other public uses for the benefit of any county, city, or town, or its inhabitants;
             95          (4) wharves, docks, piers, chutes, booms, ferries, bridges, toll roads, byroads, plank
             96      and turnpike roads, roads for transportation by traction engines or road locomotives, roads for
             97      logging or lumbering purposes, and railroads and street railways for public transportation;
             98          (5) reservoirs, dams, watergates, canals, ditches, flumes, tunnels, aqueducts and pipes
             99      for the supplying of persons, mines, mills, smelters or other works for the reduction of ores,
             100      with water for domestic or other uses, or for irrigation purposes, or for the draining and
             101      reclaiming of lands, or for the floating of logs and lumber on streams not navigable, or for solar
             102      evaporation ponds and other facilities for the recovery of minerals in solution;
             103          (6) (a) roads, railroads, tramways, tunnels, ditches, flumes, pipes, and dumping places
             104      to access or facilitate the milling, smelting, or other reduction of ores, or the working of mines,
             105      quarries, coal mines, or mineral deposits including oil, gas, and minerals in solution;
             106          (b) outlets, natural or otherwise, for the deposit or conduct of tailings, refuse or water
             107      from mills, smelters or other works for the reduction of ores, or from mines, quarries, coal
             108      mines or mineral deposits including minerals in solution;
             109          (c) mill dams;
             110          (d) gas, oil or coal pipelines, tanks or reservoirs, including any subsurface stratum or
             111      formation in any land for the underground storage of natural gas, and in connection with that,
             112      any other interests in property which may be required to adequately examine, prepare,
             113      maintain, and operate underground natural gas storage facilities;
             114          (e) solar evaporation ponds and other facilities for the recovery of minerals in solution;
             115      and
             116          (f) any occupancy in common by the owners or possessors of different mines, quarries,
             117      coal mines, mineral deposits, mills, smelters, or other places for the reduction of ores, or any
             118      place for the flow, deposit or conduct of tailings or refuse matter;


             119          (7) byroads leading from a highway to:
             120          (a) a residence; or
             121          [(b) a development; or]
             122          [(c)] (b) a farm;
             123          (8) telegraph, telephone, electric light and electric power lines, and sites for electric
             124      light and power plants;
             125          (9) sewage service for:
             126          (a) a city, a town, or any settlement of not [less] fewer than 10 families;
             127          [(b) a development;]
             128          [(c)] (b) a public building belonging to the state; or
             129          [(d)] (c) a college or university;
             130          (10) canals, reservoirs, dams, ditches, flumes, aqueducts, and pipes for supplying and
             131      storing water for the operation of machinery for the purpose of generating and transmitting
             132      electricity for power, light or heat;
             133          (11) cemeteries and public parks, except for a park whose primary use is:
             134          (a) as a trail, path, or other way for walking, hiking, bicycling, or equestrian use; or
             135          (b) to connect other trails, paths, or other ways for walking, hiking, bicycling, or
             136      equestrian use;
             137          (12) pipelines for the purpose of conducting any and all liquids connected with the
             138      manufacture of beet sugar; and
             139          (13) sites for mills, smelters or other works for the reduction of ores and necessary to
             140      their successful operation, including the right to take lands for the discharge and natural
             141      distribution of smoke, fumes, and dust, produced by the operation of works, provided that the
             142      powers granted by this section may not be exercised in any county where the population
             143      exceeds 20,000, or within one mile of the limits of any city or incorporated town nor unless the
             144      proposed condemner has the right to operate by purchase, option to purchase or easement, at
             145      least 75% in value of land acreage owned by persons or corporations situated within a radius of
             146      four miles from the mill, smelter or other works for the reduction of ores; nor beyond the limits
             147      of the four-mile radius; nor as to lands covered by contracts, easements, or agreements existing
             148      between the condemner and the owner of land within the limit and providing for the operation
             149      of such mill, smelter, or other works for the reduction of ores; nor until an action shall have


             150      been commenced to restrain the operation of such mill, smelter, or other works for the
             151      reduction of ores.
             152          Section 3. Section 78B-6-505 is amended to read:
             153           78B-6-505. Negotiation and disclosure required before filing an eminent domain
             154      action.
             155          (1) A political subdivision of the state that seeks to acquire property by eminent
             156      domain or that intends to use eminent domain to acquire property if the property cannot be
             157      acquired in a voluntary transaction shall:
             158          (a) before the governing body, as defined in Subsection 78B-6-504 (2)(a), of the
             159      political subdivision takes a final vote to approve the filing of an eminent domain action, make
             160      a reasonable effort to negotiate with the property owner for the purchase of the property; and
             161          (b) except as provided in Subsection (3), as early in the negotiation process described
             162      in Subsection (1)(a) as practicable, but no later than 14 days before the day on which a final
             163      vote is taken to approve the filing of an eminent domain action:
             164          (i) advise the property owner of the owner's rights to mediation and arbitration under
             165      Section 78B-6-522 , including the name and current telephone number of the property rights
             166      ombudsman, established in Title 13, Chapter 43, Property Rights Ombudsman Act; [and]
             167          (ii) provide the property owner a complete printed copy of the materials provided on
             168      the Office of the Property Rights Ombudsman website in accordance with Section 13-43-203
             169      regarding the acquisition of property for a public purpose and a property owner's right to just
             170      compensation; and
             171          [(ii)] (iii) provide the property owner a written statement explaining that oral
             172      representations or promises made during the negotiation process are not binding upon the
             173      person seeking to acquire the property by eminent domain.
             174          (2) A person, other than a political subdivision of the state, that seeks to acquire
             175      property by eminent domain or that intends to use eminent domain to acquire property if the
             176      property cannot be acquired in a voluntary transaction shall:
             177          (a) before filing an eminent domain action, make a reasonable effort to negotiate with
             178      the property owner for the purchase of the property; and
             179          (b) except as provided in Subsection (3), as early in the negotiation process described
             180      in Subsection (2)(a) as practicable, but no later than 14 days before the day on which the person


             181      files an eminent domain action:
             182          (i) advise the property owner of the owner's rights to mediation and arbitration under
             183      Section 78B-6-522 , including the name and current telephone number of the property rights
             184      ombudsman, established in Title 13, Chapter 43, Property Rights Ombudsman Act; [and]
             185          (ii) provide the property owner a complete printed copy of the materials provided on
             186      the Office of the Property Rights Ombudsman website in accordance with Section 13-43-203
             187      regarding the acquisition of property for a public purpose and a property owner's right to just
             188      compensation; and
             189          [(ii)] (iii) provide the property owner a written statement explaining that oral
             190      representations or promises made during the negotiation process are not binding upon the
             191      person seeking to acquire the property by eminent domain.
             192          (3) The court may, for good cause, shorten the 14-day period described in Subsection
             193      (1)(b) or (2)(b).


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