HB 63 Summary

• No agency may appropriate real property except as necessary and for a public use, with the taking agency required to prove necessity and public use by preponderance of evidence.

• Before appropriating property based on blight or slum findings, agencies must adopt a comprehensive development plan with at least one study documenting public need (fully publicly financed) and obtain a resolution from their governing legislative body affirming the public need.

• Agencies may not make blight or slum findings through emergency ordinances or resolutions, and park authorities need written approval from legislative authorities in counties where property is located outside their own county or counties.

• Unelected public agencies must allow owners to file written objections enabling appointed elected officials (or the governor for state agencies) to veto appropriations before court proceedings conclude.

• For recreational trail appropriations, municipal corporations or township boards may veto after receiving owner objections (except in counties with multiple probate judges), with veto authority available at any time before final court order.