00                            HOUSE BILL NO. 317                                                                          
01 "An Act prohibiting the exercise of eminent domain by the state and by its home rule                                    
02 and general law municipalities for the purpose of economic development, and repealing                                   
03 the authority of the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation under the Slum Clearance and                                    
04 Redevelopment Act to exercise the power of eminent domain and to acquire real                                           
05 property by eminent domain."                                                                                            
06 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                                
07    * Section 1. AS 09.55.240(a) is amended to read:                                                                   
08            (a)  Except as provided in (d) of this section, the [THE] right of eminent                               
09       domain may be exercised for the following public uses:                                                            
10                 (1)  all public uses authorized by the government of the United States;                                 
11                 (2)  public buildings and grounds for the use of the state and all other                                
12       public uses authorized by the legislature of the state;                                                           
13                 (3)  public buildings and grounds for the use of an organized or                                        

01       unorganized borough, city, town, village, school district, or other municipal division,                           
02       whether incorporated or unincorporated; canals, aqueducts, flumes, ditches, or pipes                              
03       conducting water, heat, or gas for the use of the inhabitants of an organized or                                  
04       unorganized borough, city, town, or other municipal division, whether incorporated or                             
05       unincorporated; raising the banks of streams, removing obstructions from them, and                            
06       widening, deepening, or straightening their channels; and roads, streets, and alleys,                         
07       and all other public uses for the benefit of an organized or unorganized borough, city,                           
08       town, or other municipal division whether incorporated or unincorporated, or its                                  
09       inhabitants, which may be authorized by the legislature;                                                          
10                 (4)  wharves, docks, piers, chutes, booms, ferries, bridges of all kinds,                               
11       private roads, plant and turnpike roads, railroads, canals, ditches, flumes, aqueducts,                           
12       and pipes for public transportation, supplying mines and farming neighborhoods with                               
13       water, and draining and reclaiming land, and for floating logs and lumber on streams                              
14       not navigable, and sites for reservoirs necessary for collecting and storing water;                               
15                 (5)  roads, tunnels, ditches, flumes, pipes, and dumping places for                                     
16       working mines; also outlets, natural or otherwise, for the flow, deposit, or conduct of                           
17       tailings or refuse matter from mines; also an occupancy in common by the owners or                                
18       possessors of different mines of any place for the flow, deposit, or conduct of tailings                          
19       or refuse matter from their several mines, and sites for reservoirs necessary for                                 
20       collecting and storing water;                                                                                     
21                 (6)  private roads leading from highways to residences, mines, or farms;                                
22                 (7)  telephone lines;                                                                                   
23                 (8)  telegraph lines;                                                                                   
24                 (9)  sewerage of an organized or unorganized borough, city, town,                                       
25       village, or other municipal division, whether incorporated or unincorporated, or a                                
26       subdivision of it, or of a settlement consisting of not less than 10 families, or of public                       
27       buildings belonging to the state or to a college or university;                                                   
28                 (10)  tramway lines;                                                                                    
29                 (11)  electric power lines;                                                                             
30                 (12)  for the location of pipelines for gathering, transmitting,                                        
31       transporting, storing, or delivering natural or artificial gas or oil or any liquid or                            

01       gaseous hydrocarbons, including, but not limited to, pumping stations, terminals,                                 
02       storage tanks, or reservoirs, and related installations.                                                          
03    * Sec. 2. AS 09.55.240 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:                                              
04            (d)  Notwithstanding (a) of this section, the right of eminent domain may not                                
05       be exercised for the purpose of promoting economic development or to acquire land as                              
06       part of an economic development project. For purposes of this subsection,                                         
07                 (1)  "economic development" means an activity intended primarily to                                     
08       increase a municipality's tax revenue, expand a municipality's property tax base, create                          
09       new jobs or retain existing jobs in a municipality, or improve the overall economic                               
10       vitality of a municipality, but does not include an activity that results in                                      
11                      (A)  the transfer to public ownership of the land taken;                                           
12                      (B)  the transfer of the land taken to a private entity that is a                                  
13            common carrier, such as a railroad or utility;                                                               
14                      (C)  the transfer of the land taken to a private entity when the                                   
15            transfer will facilitate removal of a threat to public health or safety or removal                           
16            or abatement of a public nuisance; or                                                                        
17                      (D)  the lease of the property taken to private entities that                                      
18            occupy an incidental area within a public project;                                                           
19                 (2)  "economic development project" means a project involving the use                                   
20       of land for economic development, including existing or planned improvements.                                     
21    * Sec. 3. AS 29.35.030(a) is amended to read:                                                                      
22            (a)  Except as provided in (c) of this section, a [A] municipality may, only                             
23       within its boundaries, exercise the powers of eminent domain and declaration of taking                            
24       in the performance of a power or function of the municipality under the procedures set                            
25       out in AS 09.55.250 - 09.55.460. In the case of a second class city, the exercise of the                          
26       power of eminent domain or declaration of taking must be by ordinance that is                                     
27       submitted to the voters at the next general election or at a special election called for                          
28       that purpose. A majority of the votes on the question is required for approval of the                             
29       ordinance.                                                                                                        
30    * Sec. 4. AS 29.35.030 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:                                              
31            (c)  A municipality may not exercise the powers of eminent domain to promote                                 

01       economic development or to acquire land as part of an economic development project.                               
02       In this subsection, "economic development" and "economic development project"                                     
03       have the meanings given in AS 09.55.240(d).                                                                       
04    * Sec. 5. AS 18.55.550 is repealed.