House Concurrent Resolution 23

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION PROPOSING AN AMENDMENT TO SECTION 17, MISSISSIPPI CONSTITUTION OF 1890, TO PROVIDE THAT PRIVATE PROPERTY SHALL NEVER BE TAKEN FOR PRIVATE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PURPOSES; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, That the following amendment to the Mississippi Constitution of 1890 is proposed to the qualified electors of the state:

Amend Section 17, Mississippi Constitution of 1890, to read as follows:

"Section 17. Private property shall not be taken or damaged for public use, except on due compensation being first made to the owner or owners thereof, in a manner to be prescribed by law; but private property shall never be taken for private economic development purposes; and whenever an attempt is made to take private property for a use alleged to be public, the question whether the contemplated use be public shall be a judicial question, and, as such, determined without regard to legislative assertion that the use is public."

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this proposed amendment shall be submitted by the Secretary of State to the qualified electors at an election to be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November 2011, as provided by Section 273 of the Constitution and by general law.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the explanation of this proposed amendment for the ballot shall read as follows: "This proposed constitutional amendment prohibits use of the power of eminent domain to take private property for private economic development purposes."

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Attorney General of the State of Mississippi is hereby directed to submit this resolution, immediately upon adoption by the Legislature, to the Attorney General of the United States or to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, in accordance with the provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended.