MS HB978

Prohibits transfer of property acquired through eminent domain for 10 years after acquisition, except for drainage/levee facilities, roads/bridges, flood control projects, seawalls, dams, toll roads, public airports/ports/harbors/wayports, and public utilities.

Exempts the 10-year transfer prohibition when eminent domain is used to remove public nuisances, structures unfit for habitation, abandoned property, or eliminate direct threats to public health or safety.

Requires that private property cannot be taken for public use without due compensation paid to the owner first, with courts determining whether a proposed use is genuinely public rather than deferring to legislative assertion.

Authorizes the legislature to provide by general law for condemning private rights-of-way for private roads where necessary for ingress/egress, with due compensation to owners, but prohibits this in incorporated cities and towns.

Grants levee boards authority to appropriate private property for constructing, maintaining, and repairing levees, with provisions for property owners to claim compensation for taken land or damages sustained.