The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“TRAILS ACT TECHNICAL CORRECTION ACT” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Senate section on pages S11951 on Sept. 21, 2007.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRAILS ACT TECHNICAL CORRECTION ACT
Mr. BOND. Mr. President, today I rise with my colleague from Missouri, Senator Claire McCaskill, to correct a small but important injustice in the National Trails System Act. The Trails Act Technical Correction Act of 2007 is a Senate companion to a bipartisan House bill sponsored by Representatives Carnahan, Akin, Clay, Emerson, and Graves. Our bipartisan bill will ensure that property owners are compensated for land taken from them as Congress intended.
In 1992, the Federal Government confiscated property owned by 102 St. Louis County residents through the Federal Rails-to-Trails Act. The taking imposed an easement on their property for a public recreational hiking/biking trail. A trail easement was established on their property on December 20, 1992. After 12 years of bureaucratic fighting and delay, the Justice Department admitted the government's takings liability and agreed to pay the property owners a total of
$2,385,000.85 for their property, interest and legal fees.
However, 2 days before the U.S. Court of Claims was scheduled to approve the agreement, the Federal circuit issued the Caldwell decision regarding a Rails-to-Trails takings case in Georgia. That decision interpreted the statute of limitations for a taking in this program as beginning with a notice of interim trail use, not the commonly understood later date the trail easement was legally imposed on the property. Under the new date, the statute of limitations on the St. Louis County takings claim had expired. The Justice Department accordingly sought dismissal of the claims without payment and the court of claims judge agreed.
Our bill clarifies in statute that the statute of limitations for a takings claim under the Trails Act begins on the date an interest is conveyed and allows for reconsideration of past claims dismissed because of this issue. This technical clarification--the takings statute of limitations starts upon the taking--makes the most sense. It also corrects a past injustice that deprived landowners of their rightful compensation. It makes no change to the substance of the Rails-to-Trails program and is supported on a bipartisan basis. I urge my colleagues to agree to its passage.
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