Statutory Approaches to Regulatory Takings: State Property Rights Legislation Issues and Implications for Public Administration

Recently, state legislatures have been adopting statutes that require agencies to change their regulatory procedures to address the increased demands of private property rights proponents and to avoid liability for regulatory takings. Many of these statutes, however, could portend difficult or impossible tasks for regulatory agencies and also greater liability rather than less. Emerson and Wise discuss and assess the various approaches these statutes are taking and point out dilemmas and impacts affecting state and local regulatory activity that are not apparent in the statutes themselves. They discuss how these statutes can affect the scope of government action and rearrange intergovernmental powers and responsibilities.