Tavares, FL (Lake County) - Oct. 3, 2012
(This article was first distributed to the FiscalRangers.com email list).
A
proposed Florida legislative bill draft is being circulated by a group fighting
government property rights transgressions in Florida, and they have started an
online petition to be submitted to Senator Don Gaetz. It is similar to one passed by the Alabama legislators recently which is already being enforced.
Here is a June 20 article on the bill by Florida Senate President-designate Don Gaetz (“ to strongly reject United Nations Agenda 21…”)
http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/don-gaetz-expect-anti-un-agenda-21-2013
Agenda 21, initiated by the UN and implemented by the American Planner’s Association, is most known for rolling out extreme restrictions on private property, which reduces uses, values and freedoms protected by the US Constitution and Bill of Rights. A simple example is
My FiscalRangers.com blog has published a white paper on Agenda 21 dangers at www.tinyurl.com/HaltAgenda21 . Go there if you want more background, watch various videos or read the many linked articles.
And recently, a group, the Florida Panhandle Patriots, setup an online petition to encourage Senator Gaetz to go ahead with it. As of Oct. 2, 245 people had signed the online petition. Readers are encouraged to visit the site and sign the petition.
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/support-florida-s-protect-private-property-bill.html
And, here is a link to a DRAFT of the bill. My research found that the bill was written by three property rights advocates
http://www.panhandlepatriots.com/uploads/Florida_Property_Rights_Bill.pdf
The above copy of the bill did not clarify who wrote it, so I inquired and got the following response from a well known property rights advocate, Karen Schoen, indicating the bill is being proposed by the group and has no official sanctions yet by legislators. (She has already expanded the text on the petition website to provide contacts and names of the writers.)
“The petition is from the AgEnders and is located on www.agenda21today.com
It is modeled after the Alabama Bill which passed and has been used to successfully to eliminate the Baldwin Co comprehensive plan in favor of a new plan that will protect private property rights.
It was written by Henry Lamb, Don Curtis and Ken Freeman.
It was edited by our attorney to make sure it was compliant with Florida law.
If you have any questions, contract me directly.
Karen
Here is Karen’s webpage on anti-Agenda 21 Legislation & Resolutions. The very first link goes to the same proposed bill reached at the above petition link.
http://americanfreedomwatchradio.com/?page_id=1880
Additionally, I contacted Senator Don Gaetz’s office and Katie Betta said that Gaetz only said he expected such a bill to be proposed, but as incoming Senate President, he would not be initiating the bill. My reading is he won’t initiate the bill, but might support one when submitted by other members of the Florida House and Senate.
I also sent an email to local Lake County Senator Alan Hays, but he has not responded yet.
The bill is called the Private Property Rights Bill, but mentions Agenda 21.
An Act,
5
6 Relating to public policy, due process, and private real
7 property; to strongly reject United Nations Agenda 21 and its
8 ancillary programs; to prohibit the State of Florida and all of
9 its political subdivisions from adopting and developing
10 environmental and developmental policies that, without due
11 process, would infringe or restrict the sovereignty of the State
12 of Florida and private property rights of the owner of private
13 property.
Here are some key provisions of the bill from my layman’s standpoint (mine – but as a Certified Internal Auditor, I used to audit large contracts and conducted or directed regulatory compliance audits):
- Consider this an initial proposal not yet adopted by anyone in the House or Senate. Even if accepted as is and filed as a bill for the 2013 legislation session in early 2013, it would be subject to revisions from many sources, including opponents (like environmentalists and liberals who don’t care about property rights). However, this would open a whole new career path for attorneys who could sue local governments for monetary damages from harming property rights and values.
- This is a State bill, but it restricts Agenda 21 land use restrictions in all Florida “political subdivisions” which include cities, counties, public private partnerships, etc. I am not sure if it applies to Federally funded “regional” entities like MPO. ( i.e. Lake Sumter Metropolitan Planning Office). I will ask the authors to specifically address “regional groups” which are like roaches in Florida. Examples include MPO and the St. John’s River Water Management District.
- Many counties adopted “Comprehensive Land Use Plans” including Lake County. They are massive, and were developed by liberal controlled committees in many counties, and established many restrictions on land use without any type of “due process”. Owners would only find out when they tried to develop or sell their land that restrictions might have cut their usage or value in half or more.
- The bill prohibits Florida State political subdivisions from implementing policies (like land use plans) that “inadvertently infringe or restrict private property rights without due process”.
- It specifically mentions policy recommendations traceable to Agenda 21 “that contravenes the Constitution of the US or the Constitution of Florida State.”
- The United Nations funds many NGO’s (Non-Governmental Organizations) including ICLEI, Sierra Club, and many environmentalist groups to provide training or help cities etc. to implement Agenda 21 (aka sustainable development or smart growth). This bill prohibits the State or political subdivisions from working with them, having contracts, receiving funds, grants, or giving financial aid to them.
- AS OF THE DATE OF THE ENACTMENT OF THIS STATUTE, all Agenda 21 type policies and programs will be NULL & VOID.
- This statute will be RETROACTIVE to the establishment of Agenda 21 programs in 1992 (George Bush signed an agreement, and Bill Clinton established a Committee to fund and implement it via most of the larger Federal agencies like EPA.)
- OWNERS of private property harmed by prior Agenda 21 actions will HAVE A RIGHT to file a civil case against the government entity that implemented defined harmful actions.
- Each alleged violation would incur an “irrefutable presumption that monetary damages have been incurred to the property for a MINIMUM of $15,000 per action." (See what I mean by attorneys benefiting from this, but so do property owners who have had property rights taken.)
- Owners who prevail will be able to get attorney fees from the loser (mostly government agencies).
- The bill clearly wants responsible government agencies to pay from property rights violations in dollars, not some soft punishment like “don’t do it again notices”.
- Disputed claims would go to a 12 man jury trial. (Not a Judge panel).
- Double or treble damages should be awarded if the government agency acted intentionally to deprive a property owner of the full use of their property.
- If the jury cannot agree on a verdict, the court “shall discharge them, impanel a new jury, and proceed with the trial."
My Opinion & Recommendations:
Clearly, this proposed bill is aimed at reversing Agenda 21 sustainable development types of land use restrictions that were implemented without citizen votes, without owner notices, without due process. The liberals over years have pushed many land use restrictions in the name of environmentalism with junk science without any due process and damaged property uses and rights. According to the US Constitution, due process is required and just compensation is due for any “taking” of properties by government.
There was not enough information to determine how much local cities and counties will have to pay from these expected lawsuits. The smart ones will reverse the Agenda 21 restrictions NOW from their comp plans to prevent future lawsuits if this bill passes as is. The dumb agencies may coordinate efforts to try and kill the bill or dilute it, and the public might not appreciate it, and will file other lawsuits to go to the Supreme Court. Property Rights is a major issue and more and more people are learning about it. Elected politicians need to understand these issues and not waffle on their stand on the issue.
Karen Schoen said that some parts of the bill would also cover Federal agencies like the EPA due to State Sovereignty issues.
An additional factor is that many property owners may already have local or Federal restrictions on land use (like wetlands or endangered species) but are never notified. Then, the local County Property Appraiser is billing them at full market value without reducing values caused by losses from all the land use restrictions. I can’t wait until some lawyer figures that out and files a class action lawsuit against local Counties for not reducing property tax values by losses incurred from land use restrictions. Not acting allowed the agencies to collect taxes every year until the owner tries to develop or sell the land and only then finds out their land is worth less. Why is this happening? Because the County land use departments are not required to put a value on lost land value from restrictions, and they don’t communicate with Property Appraiser to notify them of the reduction in uses on the land. Or, you could say the Property Appraisers may know about the issue, but avoid addressing it except in closed door one on one meetings.
I think this is a very good bill. Time to find enough people and legislators to pass it like Alabama did.
Go to the petition website and sign it:
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/support-florida-s-protect-private-property-bill.html
Vance
Vance Jochim
Lake County Fiscal Rangers
Chief Fiscal Watchdog
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