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Property rights amendment wins Senate approval

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Voters would decide whether to give property owners greater protection from government land seizures with legislation that won key approval in the Senate on Wednesday.

The constitutional amendment is a response to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last summer that allowed a city to seize property for economic development. The court also said states are free to ban the taking of property under eminent domain for such projects, and many states have begun considering such bans.

The constitutional amendment is expected to clear the House and Senate and be on ballots in November. Voters would choose to add a sentence to the state Constitution that says private property can't be condemned by eminent domain for any reason, including economic development, "unless the condemnation is for public use."

Gov. Mark Sanford and the Legislature's leaders have been working on the property protection measure since the decision.

"Never before in the history of our country have the courts come out with a decision that said a community could go in and take a house or a whole neighborhood and give it to another private land developer," Sanford said during his State of the State last month.

The 37-0 vote Wednesday came after one senator questioned why the state needs greater property right protections, considering the state Supreme Court hasn't allowed the type of property condemnation at the heart of the Supreme Court case, Kelo vs. City of New London.

"I think our court has gotten it right up to now," said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston. But if there was a "different mix over there," McConnell said, that "could take us into the realm of where Kelo went."

While the constitutional amendment doesn't change much, "it's good insurance for the future. It ensures the stability of where we are," McConnell said. "It's kind of like constitutional insurance, but it really doesn't change things."

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Harrison, R-Columbia, said his committee will take up the House version of the legislation when it meets Tuesday.