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<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> PROPERTY RIGHTS/TAKINGS <br /> <br /> In a tremendous victory this month, counties helped to defeat any further congressional <br /> action on the property rights/"takings" legislation. Supporters of S. 2271 (formerly H.R. <br /> 1534) fell well short of the 60 votes needed to proceed to a vote on the bill, effectively <br /> dooming the legislation for this Congress. By a vote of 52-42, the Senate refused to limit <br /> debate on the bill. With the extremely busy Senate calendar for the remainder of the <br /> session on appropriations and tax bills, Republican leadership staff said it was unlikely <br /> that a property rights bill would be brought up again this year. <br /> <br /> Counties responded in force to NACo's appeals for contacts, and the result was <br /> overwhelming. NACo's letters were quoted, verbatim, from the Senate floor, and local <br /> govemment decisions were used as illustrations of good planning and environmental <br /> stewardship. NACo's member counties, as well as the major effort by state associations <br /> of counties, helped to stop this radical measure that would have allowed developers to <br /> by-pass state courts, curtail local land use decisionmaking, and bring about premature and <br /> expensive lawsuits against counties. <br /> <br /> The cloture vote was primarily a party-line affair, with most Democrats supporting <br /> NACo's position. However 6 Republicans broke ranks with their party and voted with <br /> the Democrats against cloture. They were Senators John Chafee (R-RI), William Roth <br /> (R-DE), Judd Gregg (R-NH), James Jeffords (R-VT), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), and <br /> Susan Collins (R-ME). <br /> <br /> Five Democrats joined the majority of Republicans in supporting cloture. They were <br /> Senators Kent Conrad (D-ND), Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Harry Reid (D-NV), Mary <br /> Landrieu (D-LA), and Wendell Ford (D-KY). <br /> <br /> Six Senators were absent for the vote. They were Senators Alfonse D'Amato (R-NY), <br /> William Frist (R-TN), Joseph Biden (D-DE), John Breaux, (D-LA), John Glenn (D-OH), <br /> and Robert Torricelli (D-NJ). <br /> <br /> County officials can take credit for raising the profile of the issue and making the vote <br /> much closer than it was expected to be. However, the primary proponent of the bill, the <br /> National Association of Home Builders promised to bring back another bill on property <br /> rights next year. County officials should be discussing the issue of federal preemption of <br /> local land use decisions with congressional candidates this summer, particularly those <br /> candidates that are seeking endorsements from county officials. <br /> <br /> SUPERFUND <br /> <br /> NACo has joined with several other local govemment organizations to intervene to <br /> defend a new Superfund Municipal Solid Waste Settlement Policy against a lawsuit <br /> recently brought by a coalition of major industry groups. The industry lawsuit seriously <br /> threatens the EPA policy adopted in February - and strongly endorsed by NACo - which <br /> <br /> <br /> 2 <br />