Thursday, December 4, 2008
The General Assembly is not in session.
Tracking Virginia’s General Assembly
since 2007.
HJ126: Constitutional amendment; exercise of eminent domain powers (first reference).
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:
Section 11. Due process of law; obligation of contracts; taking 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 the General Assembly shall not pass any law whereby private property shall be taken or damaged for public uses without just compensation. The term "public uses" shall be defined by the General Assembly, but shall not include the taking of private property for the primary purpose of tax revenue enhancement.
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.
Additional Data
Explanation
This is the actual text of the bill — the legislation itself. Generally this is amending existing law, proposing the addition or removal of words from laws that are already on the books.
Words that are highlighted in yellow are
proposed additions, and words that are crossed out in
red are proposed removals.
The numbers with the § symbol before them are references to existing laws, and if you click on them they’ll take you to that part of the law on the state's website.