Law and Policy Resource Guide: A Survey of Eminent Domain Law in Texas and the Nation

Eminent Domain is the power of the government or quasi-government entities to take private or public property interests through condemnation. Eminent Domain has been a significant issue since 1879 when, in the case of Boom Company v. Patterson, the Supreme Court first acknowledged that the power of eminent domain may be delegated by state legislatures to agencies and non-governmental entities. Thus, the era of legal takings began. Though an important legal dispute then, more recently eminent domain has blossomed into an enduring contentious social and political problem throughout the United States. The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution states, “nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.” Thus, in the wake of the now infamous decision in Kelo v. City of New London, where the Court upheld the taking of private property for purely economic benefit as a “public use,” the requirement of “just compensation” stands as the primary defender of constitutionally protected liberty under the federal constitution. In response to Kelo, many state legislatures passed a variety of eminent domain reforms specifically tailoring what qualifies as a public use and how just compensation should be calculated. Texas landowners recognize that the state’s population is growing at a rapid pace. There is an increasing need for more land and resources such as energy and transportation. But, private property rights are equally important, especially in Texas, and must be protected as well. Eminent domain and the condemnation process is not a willing buyer and willing seller transition; it is a legally forced sale. Therefore, it is necessary to consider further improvements to the laws that govern the use of eminent domain so Texas landowners can have more assurance that this process is fair and respectful of their private property rights when they are forced to relinquish their land. This report compiles statutes and information from the other forty-nine states to illustrate how they address key eminent domain issues. Further, this report endeavors to provide a neutral third voice in Texas to strike a more appropriate balance between individual’s property rights and the need for increased economic development. This report breaks down eminent domain into seven major topics that, in addition to Texas, seemed to be similar in many of the other states. These categories are: (1) Awarding of Attorneys’ Fee; (2) Compensation and Valuation; (3) Procedure Prior to Suit; (4) Condemnation Procedure; (5) What Cannot be Condemned; (6) Public Use & Authority to Condemn; and (7) Abandonment. In analyzing these seven categories, this report does not seek to advance a particular interest but only to provide information on how Texas law differs from other states. This report lays out trends seen across other states that are either similar or dissimilar to Texas, and additionally, discusses interesting and unique laws employed by other states that may be of interest to Texas policy makers. Our research found three dominant categories which tend to be major issues across the country: (1) the awarding of attorneys’ fees; (2) the valuation and measurement of just compensation; and (3) procedure prior to suit

Linking Employee Stakeholders to Environmental Performance: The Role of Proactive Environmental Strategies and Shared Vision

Drawing on the natural-resource-based view (NRBV), we propose that employee stakeholder integration is linked to environmental performance through firms’ proactive environmental strategies, and that this link is contingent on shared vision. We tested our model with a cross-country and multi-industry sample. In support of our theory, results revealed that firms’ proactive environmental strategies translated employee stakeholder integration into environmental performance. This relationship was pronounced for high levels of shared vision. Our findings demonstrate that shared vision represents a key condition for advancing the corporate greening agenda through proactive environmental strategies. We discuss implications for the CSR and the environmental management literatures, with a particular focus on the NRBV and stakeholder integration debates

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Safety and efficacy of fluoxetine on functional outcome after acute stroke (AFFINITY): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Background Trials of fluoxetine for recovery after stroke report conflicting results. The Assessment oF FluoxetINe In sTroke recoverY (AFFINITY) trial aimed to show if daily oral fluoxetine for 6 months after stroke improves functional outcome in an ethnically diverse population. Methods AFFINITY was a randomised, parallel-group, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial done in 43 hospital stroke units in Australia (n=29), New Zealand (four), and Vietnam (ten). Eligible patients were adults (aged ≥18 years) with a clinical diagnosis of acute stroke in the previous 2–15 days, brain imaging consistent with ischaemic or haemorrhagic stroke, and a persisting neurological deficit that produced a modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score of 1 or more. Patients were randomly assigned 1:1 via a web-based system using a minimisation algorithm to once daily, oral fluoxetine 20 mg capsules or matching placebo for 6 months. Patients, carers, investigators, and outcome assessors were masked to the treatment allocation. The primary outcome was functional status, measured by the mRS, at 6 months. The primary analysis was an ordinal logistic regression of the mRS at 6 months, adjusted for minimisation variables. Primary and safety analyses were done according to the patient's treatment allocation. The trial is registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, ACTRN12611000774921. Findings Between Jan 11, 2013, and June 30, 2019, 1280 patients were recruited in Australia (n=532), New Zealand (n=42), and Vietnam (n=706), of whom 642 were randomly assigned to fluoxetine and 638 were randomly assigned to placebo. Mean duration of trial treatment was 167 days (SD 48·1). At 6 months, mRS data were available in 624 (97%) patients in the fluoxetine group and 632 (99%) in the placebo group. The distribution of mRS categories was similar in the fluoxetine and placebo groups (adjusted common odds ratio 0·94, 95% CI 0·76–1·15; p=0·53). Compared with patients in the placebo group, patients in the fluoxetine group had more falls (20 [3%] vs seven [1%]; p=0·018), bone fractures (19 [3%] vs six [1%]; p=0·014), and epileptic seizures (ten [2%] vs two [<1%]; p=0·038) at 6 months. Interpretation Oral fluoxetine 20 mg daily for 6 months after acute stroke did not improve functional outcome and increased the risk of falls, bone fractures, and epileptic seizures. These results do not support the use of fluoxetine to improve functional outcome after stroke

Mother-to-child transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in Ireland: A prospective study

Symptomatic HIV infection was first diagnosed in an Irish child in 1985. A prospective study was initiated to determine the vertical transmission rate (VTR) of HIV and the average age of infant seroreversion and to monitor clinical, immunologic and virologic evidence for HIV infection in seroreverters. Ninety three HIV positive infants have been prospectively identified since 1985. The predominant underlying maternal risk factor for HIV infection is intravenous drug use (IVDU) (96 per cent). Of 93 infants, median gestational age was 40 weeks and median birth weight 3125 grams. Ninety-four per cent of infants were bottle fed. Currently 72 (77 per cent) infants are uninfected, 12 (13 per cent) are infected, 4 (4.5 per cent) are indeterminate and 5 (5.5 per cent) have been lost to follow up. The intermediate estimate of vertical transmission rate (VTR) is 14.3 per cent. The median age at documented seroreversion was 12 months. There are no significant differences between infected and non-infected children in male/female ratio, gestational age, mode of delivery or birth weight. Strategies to reduce the transmission of HIV among drug users in combination with routine antenatal screening and antiretroviral prophylaxis of vertical transmission are all measures which can reduce HIV infection in our children

Non-pathogenic Escherichia coli Enhance Stx2a Production of E. coli O157:H7 Through Both bamA-Dependent and Independent Mechanisms

Intestinal colonization by the foodborne pathogen Escherichia coli O157:H7 leads to serious disease symptoms, including hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) and hemorrhagic colitis (HC). Synthesis of one or more Shiga toxins (Stx) is essential for HUS and HC development. The genes encoding Stx, including Stx2a, are found within a lambdoid prophage integrated in the E. coli O157:H7 chromosome. Enhanced Stx2a expression was reported when specific non-pathogenic E. coli strains were co-cultured with E. coli O157:H7, and it was hypothesized that this phenotype required the non-pathogenic E. coli to be sensitive to stx-converting phage infection. We tested this hypothesis by generating phage resistant non-pathogenic E. coli strains where bamA (an essential gene and Stx phage receptor) was replaced with an ortholog from other species. Such heterologous gene replacement abolished the ability of the laboratory strain E. coli C600 to enhance toxin production when co-cultured with E. coli O157:H7 strain PA2, which belongs to the hypervirulent clade 8. The extracellular loops of BamA (loop 4, 6, 7) were further shown to be important for infection by stx2a-converting phages. However, similar gene replacement in another commensal E. coli, designated 1.1954, revealed a bamA-independent mechanism for toxin amplification. Toxin enhancement by 1.1954 was not the result of phage infection through an alternative receptor (LamB or FadL), lysogen formation by stx2a-converting phages, or the production of a secreted molecule. Collectively, these data suggest that non-pathogenic E. coli can enhance toxin production through at least two mechanisms