MEDIA ADVISORY
EVENT: Kelo Attorney to Testify Before Michigan House On Eminent Domain Reform
TIME/DATE: 10:30 a.m./Tuesday, November 29, 2005
PLACE: House Office Building
Room 326
Lansing, MI
PARTICIPANTS: Scott Bullock, Senior Attorney, Institute for Justice
CONTACT: John Kramer, Vice President for Communications
Institute for Justice, (703) 682-9320
SUMMARY:
On Tuesday, November 29, at 10:30 a.m., the Government Operations Committee of the Michigan House of Representatives will hear testimony about the need to change the state’s eminent domain laws to protect private property rights.
The committee is considering legislation drafted in response to the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling – Kelo v. City of New London – that gives local governments a green light to seize homes and small businesses for private development. Eminent domain reform legislation has already passed the Michigan Senate.
Institute for Justice Senior Attorney Scott Bullock will testify at the committee hearing to call for reform of Michigan’s eminent domain laws. The Institute for Justice represents Susette Kelo and the other New London, Conn., homeowners who stand to lose their homes to private developers as a result of the Court’s ruling. Bullock was co-counsel in and argued the Kelo case before the U.S. Supreme Court. In the wake of the ruling, the Institute and its grassroots Castle Coalition launched a $3 million “Hands Off My Home” campaign to combat eminent domain abuse at the state and local level.
For more information on the Hands Off My Home campaign visit www.CastleCoalition.org.