Toward helping to prevent federal land seizures, U.S. Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO) on Aug. 8 proposed legislation to bolster the rights of landowners across America.
“Our right to own property, to farm, and to provide for our families is sacred,” Rep. Graves said. “The founding fathers sought to protect landowners from government land grabs with the Fifth Amendment. Sadly, Washington bureaucrats don’t seem to miss an opportunity to go after our rights. They’ve got to be held accountable so we can protect landowner rights and stop these federal land grabs.”
Rep. Graves sponsored the Rails to Trails Landowner Rights Act, H.R. 4924, alongside five Republican original cosponsors, including U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO), to reign in the Surface Transportation Board’s Rails to Trails program, which allows the federal government to take former railroad corridors and give those corridors to third parties for use as recreational trails.
The congressman said that this broken process violates the constitutional rights of landowners and unfairly cuts them out of the process.
The legislation would require trail sponsors to get sign off from all impacted landowners and fully compensate landowners when a project moves forward, according to a bill summary provided by Rep. Graves’ staff.
The Missouri Farm Bureau supports H.R. 4924, which has been referred to the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee for consideration.