Vote Yes on Prop 11 This November

The Texas Constitutional Amendment election is Tuesday, November 3. In the upcoming weeks, I'll examine all of the proposed Texas Constitutional Amendments, but I want to give special attention to Prop 11, because it is worth campaigning for. Here's the text:

“The constitutional amendment to prohibit the taking, damaging, or destroying of private property for public use unless the action is for the ownership, use, and enjoyment of the property by the State, a political subdivision of the State, the public at large, or entities granted the power of eminent domain under law or for the elimination of urban blight on a particular parcel of property, but not for certain economic development or enhancement of tax revenue purposes, and to limit the legislature’s authority to grant the power of eminent domain to an entity.”

This is a rather narrowly-written amendment, but it represents a significant increase in property rights protection. The amendment was written in direct response to the Kelo v. New London Supreme Court case. This case ruled that an increased property value, and subsequent increased property tax take, was a public use, and therefore private property could be transferred from one owner to another if the new owner would pay more property taxes than the current owner. In the Kelo case, the City of New London, Connecticut, took Suzette Kelo's (and many of her neighbor's) home and gave it to Pfizer because the complex that Pfizer would build would be be valued higher and worth more in property taxes than the homeowners in the neighborhood. Proposition 11 would effectively prohibit governments in Texas from using eminent domain to take land for anything other than explicit public purpose. Eminent domain is one of the most anti-liberty powers that governments have, so it should be strictly limited. Prop 11 would apply some necessary common sense restrictions to that power.

The Most Important Victory in 2008, From California?

Believe it or not, the most important conservative victory of this election cycle came from California. The media and Republicans concentrated on Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage, but a much, much more important proposition also passed, and it got little support from Republicans and little media attention. That is Proposition 11, which removes redistricting power from the legislature and gives it to an independent panel. The 14-member panel will consist of 5 Republicans, 5 Democrats, and 4 consistent voters who are members of neither party. There are other rules to ensure that the panel has regular citizens instead of political insiders.

One of the things that they are charged with is making districts more competitive. In California, in 2002, 2004, and 2006, no senate or assembly districts changed parties, and 99% of incumbents have won this decade. State Senators and Assemblymen have gerrymandered their districts to make sure that their re-election is ensured, and when they are term-limited, they get to pick their replacement. The idea that communities should be represented by the same person, or that minority political opinions should have a voice haven't even been considerations. This has destroyed any accountability legislators should have had to their constituents.

Now with Prop. 11, a panel will draw the lines every decade, with the following considerations (from the San Francisco Chronicle):

Commission members would not be allowed to consider incumbent residences or impact on political parties when drawing the lines. Instead, they would be required to follow these criteria, in this order: Adherence with the U.S. Constitution, including equal population requirements; compliance with the Voting Rights Act, to protect the interest of minority voters; geographic contiguity of districts; respect for the need to keep cities, counties and "communities of interest" in the same district; compactness of districts; "nesting" of districts so that the 80 Assembly districts are aligned with the 40 Senate districts to the extent possible.

Prop. 11 passed 50.6% to 49.4%, with support by many interest groups and the Governator (and oddly, Michael Bloomberg), despite strong opposition by Nancy Pelosi and the state Democratic Party. Although it's unlikely that California will elect a lot more Republicans in the next few years, it will create more legislative turnover, and accountability. Texas and other states would do well to follow California's lead in enacting similar measures and make the democratic process distinctly more democratic. A healthy turnover in power tends to restrain politicians and preserve liberty.