- INDR works with the Orange Coalition to change Eminent Domain laws in U S State of Arizona

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INDR works with the Orange Coalition to change Eminent Domain laws in U S State of Arizona

INDR often deals with the policies of international financial intermediareis (IFIs) but an extensive laws define the right of the state and its subjurisdictions at the national level. This note mentions an ongoing efforts to change on such system in the state of Arizona in the United States of America.

Amendments to the United States of America Constitution (Article 5 and Article 14 of the Bill of Rights) require the government give “just compensation” and due process when property is taken. Federal laws, most notably the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Act provides other protections but only when a project has federal funding. The US Constitution leaves the issue of what is just compensation ambiguous and subject to a juridical interpretation. States can and do set higher standards, as a gesture of goodwill, to avoid harming property owners. As a result, there is considerable state-to-state variation in the rights of the displaced. ....INDR President Ted Downing, a former State Legislator, did an analysis of Arizona eminent domain laws and found them surprisingly weak and antiquated. He found that they were based on flawed economics that leave a property owner in the way of development impoverished and disadvantaged. He discovered that the expansion of the Interstate Highway System under President Eisenhower, airport expansions, and subsequent urban development left impoverished peoples in their wake.

Downing ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) joined forces with another former legislator, Laura Knaperek ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) of the “Orange Coalition” to strengthen eminent domain laws in Arizona. Orange here is the short form for Organized Residents Against Needless Government Encroachment) The coalition, which formed two years ago to oppose the misuse of eminent domain, is urging the Legislature to pass bills that would create more protections for people whose property is taken forcibly by the government, and guarantee more relocation assistance for those who are displaced when the government takes property. Downing puzzed over why the entitlements of a property owner differed, depending on which state agency or jurisdiction took one’s property. From the property owner or tenants point of view, this made no sense.

Downing and the Orange Coalition found a champion in Senator Chuck Gray who is sponsoring two eminent domain bills S 1363 and S1366 (www.azleg.gov). The bills would expand the relocation-assistance requirements in eminent domain actions. It would, for instance, ensure timely disclosure to project affected peoples, risk assessments of a project to those in the way, and a vote on any taking by an elected officials. It would standardize the rights of peoples regardless of which agency is taking their livelihoods.. It also requires relocation assistance to be provided for owners of property near an eminent domain project to compensate for financial injury caused by the project. After extensive hearings with lively opposition and amendments, the two bills were voted out of committee and will soon be up for a vote of the full Arizona Senate.

For more information contact Downing at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 11 March 2010 )

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The Economics of Involuntary Resettlement: International Conference in India

An important International Conference on Population Displacement and Resettlement by development projects will take place on April 10-12, 2012 at the Xavier Institute of Management in Bhubaneswar (XIMB), Odisha, India. The conference is jointly organized by the Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, the XLRI School of Business and Human Resources, Jamshedpur, and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.

XIMB, the lead organizing institution and the conference’s host, is one of India’s most eminent high education institutions in the area of management sciences. Private sector industries and the public sector recruit many managers and civil servants from among XIMB graduates. The Conference is prepared by a group of XIMB faculty, led by Professor Latha Ravindran, who was the first to introduce a training course on development-caused population resettlement in XIMB, one of few Universities in India that offer graduate training in this domain.

The Conference seeks to examine the theoretical, legal, financial and policy issues intrinsic to development-caused displacement. Its Keynote Address will be given by Professor Michael M. Cernea, NR Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, Washington DC, and former Senior Adviser of the World Bank on Social Policies and Sociology. Among participants are both Indian and international scholars, researchers, students, and practitioners.

The risks and actual adverse impacts of development-induced resettlement on local people have been widely researched, but the capacity to deal with these issues is still largely lacking. Though there have been recent trends in training programs and university courses focusing on these issues, the need for effective and knowledgeable experts to assist in the resettlement process more crucial now than ever.

The conference will be an opportunity for researchers, project proponents, managers of R&R projects, professionals from civil society organizations and policy makers to deliberate, debate and identify possible solutions for critical unsolved issues pertaining to involuntary displacement, resettlement and rehabilitation on account of development projects.

Towards this goal, the organizers selected the following main topics for the sessions of the conference on Theoretical Perspectives, Legal & Policy Issues on Development-Induced Displacement and Rehabilitation, 2. Critical issues in Land Acquisition and Forced Displacement,3. The Economics, Financing, and Planning for R&R,4. Management of Impoverishment Risks under Urban Displacement

Odisha is one of India’s richest states in underground resources (iron, coal, rare metals etc.), but also one of its least developed, and has a high percentage of tribal groups amongst its population. Many big private sector corporations, national and transnational, are currently developing large scale projects in Odisha in the extractive and processing industries in order to bring these resources into the industrial and economic circuit. Such developments, however, entail the need of large aggregate population displacements and relocations. This has vastly increased the interest of the State Government and population in the issues of Development-caused Forced Displacement and Resettlement (DFDR). Odisha is one of India's states which has adopted its own State Policy for DFDR processes.

Researchers from India and abroad interested in attending this Conference may contact:

Ms. Reena Ravichander

Xavier Institute of Management, Xavier Square, Bhubaneswar-751013, Odisha, India

Phone: +91-674-3983811 (D), 3012345 (30 lines); Mobile: +91-9437010686

Fax: +91-674- 2300995; Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Submitted by Joanna London

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