The Idaho Senate recently passed a bill which would prevent the
use of the power of eminent domain to create hiking trails, bike
paths or greenways. The bill, SB 1044, passed the Senate 20-13. It
bans the use of condemnation "for trails, paths, greenways or
other ways for walking, running, hiking, bicycling or equestrian
use, unless adjacent to a highway, road or street."
Critics of the bill argued that it could prevent cities from
creating greenways or even to create safe walking routes to school
for kids.
Sen. Jim Guthrie, the bill's sponsor, compared the power of
eminent domain to his sister once being robbed at gunpoint at the
family's grocery store. "Even though he didn't fire
the gun, there's no question in my mind that he used it,"
Guthrie said. "How fair is it, when at the beginning of the
negotiation process the other party has something in their tool
bag, as the cities put it, that you don't?"
