Alabama Legislators Need to Fix New Eminent Domain Law

Last weekend, Reason

broke the news that Alabama has rescinded its strong statutory
protections against the use of eminent domain for private
development. I stand by that claim, but based on subsequent local
news
reports, SB 96 appears to be an inartfully crafted law rather
than a nefarious attempt to bring back Kelo-style land
grabs.

According to one legislator, any expansion of eminent domain
authority was inadvertent and will be excised. Legal minds in
Alabama are
split, however, on whether the new law, which offers tax
subsidies for manufacturers willing to locate their operations in
the state, does indeed expand the state's eminent domain power.

To me, this language is pretty
unequivocal (italics denote SB 96’s changes to existing law):

It is further found and declared that the powers conferred by
this chapter are for public … and private uses and
purposes imbued with a public interest … and the power of
eminent domain and police power exercised, is hereby declared as a
matter of legislative determination.

Those private uses include:

Automotive, aviation, medical, pharmaceutical, semiconductor,
computer, electronics, energy conservation, cyber technology, and
biomedical industry manufacturing facilities.

Since there is uncertainty about what this passage means, a
quick legislative fix is in order. According to Dana Berliner, a
senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, “If the legislature
truly did not intend to authorize eminent domain with this bill,
they need to fix it immediately.”

Otherwise, it will be up to judges to determine what the law
says, which means forcing property owners to defend their homes and
businesses in court when local officials with an expansive view of
SB 96 decide to replace a neighborhood with an industrial park.
 

Disclosure: I am a former employee of the Institute for
Justice.

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What the Hell is Bitcoin Anyway? All You Need to Know in 2 Minutes

 

Last
June, Reason TV interviewed the Mercatus Center's
Jerry Brito about the then-new phenomena that is Bitcoin, a virtual
currency that is distributed via the internet.

With Bitcoin now going for over $100 per unit and amassing a
value of over $1 billion worldwide,
everyone has an opinion on the curious currency - whose creator
is still unknown. The short interview above is a great place to get
some basic facts. Go
here for more details and links.

Reason on
Bitcoin.

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INSTANT MBA: You Need To Be CEO And 'Chief Ironing Officer'

Today's advice comes from Ivar Kroghrud, former CEO of Questback via The New York Times:

"Part of my role is to be 'chief ironing officer.' It’s very easy in a fast-growing company and fast-changing industry to get hung up on all the things that aren’t working and that we should be fixing. If you want to get extraordinary results, you have to play to people’s strengths and you have to help them work as close to plan as possible. If you allow them to get bogged down in all the problems that are out there — and there are always problems — they’ll be unproductive."

Kroghrud says it's up to the CEO to make sure everything is running smoothly. Keeping your employees happy and checking in with them every once in a while can be vital to an organization. The more you iron out the kinks, the easier it is to maintain productivity levels high in your company. When you fail to establish a relationship with your employees, you're also at risk of staying in the dark when major issues start plaguing the organization. 

"You can get a lot of speed by thinking of yourself as a chief ironing officer. Once you have a successful system in place, you can spend some of your time just walking around talking to people and asking: 'What’s preventing you from doing an even better job? What are you spending time on that you don’t feel you should be spending time on?' Those kinds of questions are easy to ask, and people relate to them."

Want your business advice featured in Instant MBA? Submit your tips to tipoftheday@businessinsider.com. Be sure to include your name, your job title, and a photo of yourself in your email.

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21 Photos Of People Carrying Way Too Much Stuff

In most western nations, goods are transported on trains, ships, and trucks.

But in areas where those vehicles are less available, people who need to move a lot of stuff from place to place get much more creative.

These photos reveal how people from all over the world use bikes, carts, boats, and animals in amazing ways to get themselves and their stuff where they need to go.

This man in India is biking around with a huge number of plastic balls.

For transporting a lot of ducks, a motorcycle works.

A riverboat in Amazonas, Brazil is overloaded with empty boxes.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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Certificate-of-Need Laws Prevent Access to Lifesaving Medical Technology

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in
the United States. In large part, that’s because less than half of
the population that should be getting screened isn’t getting
screened.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Medical science has found a way
to use CT scanners to do screenings non-invasively, negating the
need to insert a colonoscope into the rectum and large intestine.
But for regulatory hurdles, people could just go to a clinic, pay
for a quick photo & analysis session and be on their way.

However, as of 2010, 13 states require medical institutions to
get permission, in the form of a “certificate of need,” before
purchasing new CT scanners. Other states require doctors to obtain
a certificate of need before offering new medical procedures like
virtual colonoscopies, which are still relatively cutting edge.

From Darpana Sheth of the Institute for Justice, writing in the

Daily Caller:

In a lengthy and expensive process, verging on full-blown
litigation, medical providers must demonstrate a “need” for the
proposed services. Worse, existing healthcare facilities are
invited to oppose and defeat a would-be competitor’s application.
This process results in a de-facto “certificate of monopoly” for
favored established businesses.

Consider entrepreneur and physician Dr. Mark Baumel. He wanted
to open several “one-stop shops” for colon health in Virginia that
would provide virtual colonoscopies along with same-day polyp
removal, just as he does at his flagship facility in Delaware.
Unlike Delaware, Virginia prohibits purchasing a CT scanner without
first obtaining a certificate of need. And yet, Virginia’s
Department of Health has denied Dr. Baumel a certificate of
need.

None of Dr. Baumel's potential competitors even offer the
service that he wants to provide. But they could. And
state health planners apparently think protecting existing
businesses from even the possibility of competition is more
important than patient access to potentially lifesaving
screenings.

Baumel is suing Virginia, with the help of the Institute for
Justice. See more Reason coverage of certificate-of-need
laws here
and
here.

Disclosure: I am a former employee of the Institute for
Justice.

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STOCKS MAKE BIG COMEBACK: Here's What You Need To Know (DIA, SPY, QQQ)

Markets opened deep in the red with the Dow down by as much as 120 points.  But stocks slowly ground higher.

First the scoreboard:

Dow: 14,526, -33.5 pts, -0.2 percent
S&P 500: 1,562, -0.9 pts, -0.0 percent
NASDAQ: 3,256, +4.0 pts, +0.1 percent

And now the top stories:

• In case you haven't been following, the S&P 500 is just a handful of points away from its all-time high of 1,565.
• The U.S. markets actually began the day deep in the red.  Much of the bad news was coming out of Europe where Italy is in disarray and Cyprus makes plans to reopen its banks tomorrow.
• For the next seven days, Cypriot bank account holders will not be able to cash any checks, however they will be welcome to make deposits. Also, all card transactions will be capped at 5,000 euros.  These capital controls are intended to prevent a run on the banks, which would be devastating for the very financial system that Europe is trying to preserve.
• "The Troika have managed to exponentially increase concerns on how safe retail deposits are in the eurozone," wrote Societe Generale strategist Albert Edwards. "It matters not that the final Cypriot bailout plan did not touch smaller savers unlike the original proposal of a 6¾% tax (haircut) for ALL deposits under 100,000 in ALL banks (including foreign bank subsidiaries). The fact that this plan was originally sanctioned, despite deposit insurance, will have shaken small saver confidence to the bone. It certainly has shaken my confidence."
• In the U.S., pending home sales fell by 0.4 percent in February, which was a bit worse than the 0.3 percent expected by economists.
• Still, the overall trend in the U.S. housing market continues to be as strong as ever.  Anecdotal evidence suggests some local markets may be getting a bit too hot for comfort.  "People are fighting other people," said Jeff Gundlach of the Southern California housing market. "It's almost the same type of environment I remember from the late 1980s."
• Don't Miss: At A Conference In Dubai, David Kotok Gave This Presentation On The Precarious State Of Global Monetary Policy >

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