Oct. 27--This story originally appeared in the October 25 edition of the El Paso Times.

EL PASO -- Should economic development or an opportunity to raise more tax revenue be banned as reasons to take someone's private property?

Should an owner be required to pay taxes on what his or her home is worth as a residence or on what could be considered the best use of the property?

Should cities be allowed to sell bonds and commit tax revenue to purchase land around military installations for future expansion?

These are separate ballot issues that voters across Texas will decide at the polls on Nov. 3.

Legislators have crafted 11 propositions for amendments to the Texas Constitution. The proposed amendments include access to public beaches, providing the state the authority to establish uniform standards for appraising property and crafting slightly tighter eminent domain rules. Now, the Texas Constitution prohibits the government from using eminent domain, taking or damaging property without compensating the owner.

Legislators this year added a few provisions that they said would strengthen the rights of private property owners.

Proposition 11 would prevent the seizing of private property for public use unless the purpose was the "ownership, use, and enjoyment of the property" by the government or other entities that include school districts and public utilities.

The proposition would keep governments from claiming private property to boost certain economic

development or to raise tax revenues.

Under the measure, governments that use eminent domain to remove blighted properties would have to prove that the individual property being taken over was blighted.

The law now allows governments to declare an entire area blighted without checking the status of individual properties.

State Rep Joe Pickett, D-El Paso, said legislators were trying to ease fears that the government could take away someone's property because they were not using it in the manner the government preferred.

He called the legislation a preemptive strike to clarify that a government cannot seize private property unless it's for a public purpose.

"A public purpose would be something like a hospital, like a road, like a park, and not building a strip mall," he said.

Gov. Rick Perry and his main challenger in the Republican primary, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, have both supported the proposition. Perry vetoed tougher eminent domain legislation in 2007.

Critics say the proposition does not do enough to protect homeowners' rights.