Topeka ? A bill barring local governments from buying up private properties and transferring them to private developers for commercial projects was defeated in the Senate on Wednesday.

Rejected on a 22-15 vote, the bill would have banned private economic or industrial development as a legitimate reason for a city or county to acquire private land through eminent domain.

Eminent domain was used to acquire land for such private projects as Kansas Speedway in Wyandotte County and, more recently, a Target Corp. distribution center in Shawnee County.

The legislation would not have affected governments’ authority to buy up private land for “public use” projects, such as highways.

Supporters of the measure said the state has made it too easy for local governments to use eminent domain to take a person’s property under the guise of the “public good.”

But opponents said the bill would undermine property owners’ right to do what they want with their land, including selling it to a local government for later sale, lease or other transfer to a private developer.

Senate President Dave Kerr, R-Hutchinson, said the bill might create a roadblock to development that the state might someday regret and that passing it would be “overcorrecting” a problem.

Kerr also said, however, that he would support a legislative study later this year to create a new policy to safeguard property rights.

Proponents of the bill contended it would protect the “little guy” from being forced from his property by wealthy companies promising jobs and tax revenues if they get that land.

“Our founding fathers understood and stated that our individual freedom rests with protecting individual property rights,” said Sen. Robert Tyson, R-Parker.

Tyson said his vote in favor of the bill was “a clear vote for free enterprise and individual property rights, declaring that our unalienable rights belong to the individual.” A “no” vote, Tyson said, was a declaration that those rights belong to the government.

Critics of the bill have said property sometimes is in such poor condition that it’s in a community’s best interest to acquire it and put it to better use. Also, they said, even when a city or county exercises its power of eminent domain, the property owner is paid, albeit less than the owner would prefer.

Eminent domain is SB 547.

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Kansas Legislature: http://www.kslegislature.org