Limits the availability of funds under this Act for use in paying for eminent domain activities.

SA 2113. Mr. BOND (for himself, Mr. Dorgan, Mr. Nelson of Florida, Mr. Corzine, and Mr. Talent) proposed an amendment to the bill H.R. 3058, making appropriations for the Departments of Transportation, Treasury, and Housing and Urban Development, the Judiciary, District of Columbia, and independent agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2006, and for other purposes; as follows:

Insert the following on page 348, after line 5, and renumber accordingly:

“Sec. 321. No funds in this Act may be used to support any federal, state, or local projects that seek to use the power of eminent domain, unless eminent domain is employed only for a public use: Provided, That for purposes of this section, public use shall not be construed to include economic development that primarily benefits private entities: Provided further, That any use of funds for mass transit, railroad, airport, seaport or highway projects as well as utility projects which benefit or serve the general public (including energy-related, communication-related, water-related and wastewater-related infrastructure), other sructures designated for use by the general public or which have other common-carrier or public-utility functions that serve the general public and are subject to regulation and oversight by the government, and projects for the removal of blight (including areas identified by units of local government for recovery from natural disasters) or brownsfields as defined in the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownsfields Revitalization Act (Pub. Law 107-118) shall be considered a public use for purposes of eminent domain: Provided further, That the Government Accountability Office, in consultation with the National Academy for Public Administration, organizations representing state and local governments, and property rights organizations, shall conduct a study to be submitted to the Congress within 12 months of the enactment of this Act on the nationwide use of eminent domain, including the procedures used and the results accomplished on a state-by-state basis as well as the impact on individual property owners and on the affected communities.”