Relating to the exercise of eminent domain for the construction of hazardous liquid pipelines and including effective date and applicability provisions

This bill relates to a utility’s right to condemn agricultural land. The bill provides that the construction of hazardous liquid pipelines for the transportation or transmission of liquefied carbon dioxide is not a public use, public purpose, or public improvement for purposes of condemnation of agricultural land by a utility unless the owner of the agricultural land consents to the condemnation. Under current law, a utility is excluded from the requirement to receive the consent of the owner of agricultural land prior to using eminent domain to condemn the agricultural land for private development purposes. The bill defines a utility as a person or business that provides gas, electricity, communications services, water, or sanitary sewage or storm water drainage disposal to the public for compensation, and also includes waterworks, joint water utilities, rural water districts, cooperative water associations, and electric transmission owners primarily providing service to public utilities. The bill takes effect upon enactment and applies to condemnation proceedings for which the application is filed on or after the effective date of the bill.