Eminent domain, this land is my land

In most elections the candidates in the major races garner most of the attention; sometimes the ballot questions can have a much bigger impact than the winner of an election. There are a four statewide questions and one county advisory question. The first one I want to discus is state question #4, relating to eminent domain.
Eminent domain is basically the right of the government to take property from a private citizen for public use. Legally it's a lot more complicated and if you have ever had to go through an eminent domain preceding I'm sure you would agree. There are two sections in the Nevada Constitution under Article 1 that deal with eminent domain, section 8 and section 22. Both sections basically explain how the government can take private property. They are required to provide just compensation and the burden of proof to prove public use is on the side of the government.

By looking over the Nevada Constitution, specifically the sections relating to eminent domain, the eminent domain clauses appear to be very good. They were overwhelmingly passed by voters in two consecutive elections and have many safeguards in place to ensure, as fair as eminent domain can be; the private property owner is protected. This was put into the Nevada Constitution by the People's Initiative to Stop the Taking of Our Land (PISTOL) in response to the federal government's abuse of the eminent domain clause and the City of Las Vegas' abuse of the eminent domain clause. The PISTOL clause limits the transferring of private property for anything other than public use; it also contains language on establishing fair market value and just compensation. Passage of question 4 would broaden the power to use eminent domain to transfer property from one private party to another, extends the limit the government has to actually use the property, from 5 years to 15 years. The PISTOL initiative was adopted to provide citizens the power to fight against the government and protect their private property.

With all the work that has gone into protecting the property of rights of Nevada citizens, it would be detrimental to begin to erode those strengths now. Vote no on question 4, let's keep the government out of our property, when need to stop the unconstitutional taking of our property.