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<DOCID>Kenneth_Casperson_-_Eminent_Domain_10-01-06.doc.txt</DOCID>
<AUTHOR>Kenneth Casperson</AUTHOR>
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This years ballot proposals have been sparking a lot of controversy among voters. Debates continue over another of this years hotbutton propositions, a bill that would restrict the governments right to Eminent Domain to only public facilities. 

Eminient Domain is the governments power, written in the State Constitution, that gives the state government the right to buy land from a private holder for reasonable compensation  which is determined by the government agency making the purchase. The land owner is required to accept the proposal, even if it means that their home is being bought for what is usually below market value. 

The law, however, is built to ensure that the government can use land to build things such as highways and other facilities without the worry of landowners who would refuse to sell their property at any price. Prices usually do account for the value of the property, so owners would not take a loss on the sale, but the fact that they will be unable to profit from it (as is desired by any homeowner) raises many protests against this government power. Highways and dams are not the only use for this power, though, as economic projects have also been undertaken using land bought from private owners through eminent domain. The main controversy sparking this law, however, is derived from a 2004 Michigan Supreme Court ruling which states that economic design projects do not constitute public use under the 1963 state constitution. One year later, the U.S. Supreme Court made the opposite ruling but added the caveat that state governments may add restrictions to this as they see fit. 

Empowered with these decisions, proponents of restricting eminent domain have gotten the proposal onto this Novembers ballot. While there is continued debate over the fairness of the law, supporters of maintaining the current system remind voters that with such restrictions, projects such as Ford Field and Comerica Park in Detroit would have never been completed. 

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