CHAPTER 757
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 693
Proposing an amendment to Section 11 of Article I of the Constitution of Virginia, relating to taking or damaging of private property.
Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 23, 2011
Agreed to by the Senate, February 22, 2011
RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, a majority of the members elected to each house agreeing, That the following amendment to the Constitution of Virginia be, and the same hereby is, proposed and referred to the General Assembly at its first regular session held after the next general election of members of the House of Delegates for its concurrence in conformity with the provisions of Section 1 of Article XII of the Constitution of Virginia, namely:
Amend Section 11 of Article I of the Constitution of Virginia as follows:
ARTICLE I
BILL OF RIGHTS
Section 11. Due process of law; obligation of contracts; taking or damaging of private property; prohibited discrimination; jury trial in civil cases.
That no person shall be deprived of his life, liberty, or
property without due process of law; that the General Assembly shall not pass
any law impairing the obligation of contracts, nor any law whereby private
property shall be taken or damaged for public uses, without just compensation,
the term "public uses" to be defined by the General Assembly; and
that the right to be free from any governmental discrimination upon the basis
of religious conviction, race, color, sex, or national origin shall not be
abridged, except that the mere separation of the sexes shall not be considered
discrimination.
That in controversies respecting property, and in suits between man and man, trial by jury is preferable to any other, and ought to be held sacred. The General Assembly may limit the number of jurors for civil cases in courts of record to not less than five.
That the General Assembly shall pass no law whereby private property, the right to which is fundamental, shall be damaged or taken except for public use. No private property shall be damaged or taken for public use without just compensation to the owner thereof. No more private property may be taken than necessary to achieve the stated public use. Just compensation shall be no less than the value of the property taken, lost profits and lost access, and damages to the residue caused by the taking. The terms “lost profits” and “lost access” are to be defined by the General Assembly. A public service company, public service corporation, or railroad exercises the power of eminent domain for public use when such exercise is for the authorized provision of utility, common carrier, or railroad services. In all other cases, a taking or damaging of private property is not for public use if the primary use is for private gain, private benefit, private enterprise, increasing jobs, increasing tax revenue, or economic development, except for the elimination of a public nuisance existing on the property. The condemnor bears the burden of proving that the use is public, without a presumption that it is.