Group wants Senate to vote on eminent domain

RALEIGH — A group is calling on state senators to bring a House bill on eminent domain up for a vote.

The group held a news conference Thursday in front of the legislative building. House Bill 878, which passed the House, has been stuck in committee in the Senate since 2001.

“Now it’s getting to where we don’t seem to have any security, that we’ll be able to keep our property,” said organizer Joyce Krawiec of FreedomWorks. “Eminent domain can come in and take it away. Annexation can come in and force us. We choose where we want to live, rather, that was our intent but now cities are choosing where they want us to live.”

Representatives from the groups Americans for Prosperity, FreedomWorks and the NC Property Rights Coalition spoke at the event.

Eminent domain refers to the power possessed by the state over all property within the state, specifically its power to appropriate property for a public use.