Oklahoma property owners who have had land seized through eminent domain are getting a second chance to reclaim their properties, thanks to a new bill. House Bill 1103, recently signed into law, mandates the Oklahoma Transportation Commission to alert former landowners before selling off land that had previously been taken from them. Rep. Tom Gann underlined, "This was a constituent request bill," further detailing the origin of the legislation in an effort to right the wrongs experienced by an individual who was left in the dark about the resale of their own land. According to a report by the Oklahoma House, Sen. Ally Seifried endorses the bill, stating it's about "doing what's right for those displaced by eminent domain."
The bill looks to extend the timeframe within which previous owners can reclaim their land from the usual 30 days, outstretching it to a more forgiving 90 days. Intricately woven into it, notification requirements by the Commission have been laid out, demanding attentiveness and action. The previously placed five-year time limit for the Commission to get in touch with former owners about a sale is now rescinded. Offering his perspective, Rep. Mark Lepak expressed to Oklahoma House the incentive this would remove from the Commission to capitalize on land values.
The tweaks to the bill include stipulations for transparency, necessitating that sales be advertised online, which aims to prevent the Department of Transportation from profiting unduly from the lands they’ve acquired. As per the adopted measure, a notice must be dispatched by registered mail and prominently displayed on the Department of Transportation’s website. This notice is obligated to encompass an offer to the previous owner to repurchase the property at no more than the original price, so long as the initial purchase did not involve federal funds, as reported by the Oklahoma House.
In the words of Rep. Tom Gann, acquired from the Oklahoma House interview, the bill "add transparency to the process by requiring online publication of the land sale."
