# Your Land Is Your Land: Where I Stand on Property Rights and Eminent Domain _In 2018 a family court case brought my son to Rapid City. I followed him here and bought a house here the same year, because being his dad meant being close. That house is the largest thing I own._ By Zac Martin. Published 2026-06-13. Canonical URL: https://zac4sd.com/blog/land-use-property-rights Platform pillar: G. Land Use, Property Rights, and Eminent Domain In 2018 a family court case brought my son to Rapid City. I followed him here and bought a house here the same year, because being his dad meant being close. That house is the largest thing I own. For most families in District 32 the math is the same. The house is the savings account. It is the inheritance. It is the one piece of the world with your name on the deed. So here is the question that decides this entire issue. What happens when somebody with government power decides they want what is yours? The answer is supposed to be simple. Government can take private property only for a real public use, and it has to pay for it. A road. A school. A water line. That is the oldest deal in American property law. But a workaround grew up next to the deal. A private company calls itself a common carrier, and suddenly the power to take land is on the table for a private project. South Dakota has watched that model up close. It is the Summit Carbon CO2 pipeline model, and I stand with the landowners against it. ## Where I stand My principle on this fits in five words. Your land is your land. From that principle come four commitments. 1. Pass HJR 5001, the constitutional amendment that requires a declaration of necessity and clarifies what counts as public use before an eminent domain taking. The House passed it sixty-two to five on January 27, 2026. Now it belongs to you. South Dakota voters decide it on the November 2026 ballot. 2. Ban deceptive easement practices and end the common carrier workaround that lets private projects borrow government power. 3. Restrict warrantless drone surveillance of private property. If the state wants to watch your backyard from the air, it can go get a warrant first. 4. Stand with landowners against the Summit Carbon CO2 pipeline model. Not just one pipeline. The model. ## What HJR 5001 actually does Plain English. Before land can be taken, there has to be a declaration of necessity, on the record, stating why the taking is needed. And public use gets defined tightly enough that private gain cannot wear it as a costume. That is the whole amendment. It does not end eminent domain for roads, schools, or public infrastructure. It ends the pretending. The House passed HJR 5001 sixty-two to five on January 27, 2026. That is about as close to unanimous as Pierre gets. One of District 32's seated representatives was among the five votes against it. I would have voted yes. Here is the part I like best. You do not have to send anyone to Pierre to finish this one. It is already on your ballot. On November 3, 2026, the same day you choose two House members for this district, you can lock these protections into the South Dakota Constitution yourself. ## The honest objections Every position worth holding can survive its hardest questions. Here are the ones I hear, answered straight. ### "This is a farm and ranch fight. District 32 is the heart of the city." True, the Summit Carbon fight ran through farm country, and nobody in this district is cutting wheat. But a property right that depends on your zip code is not a right. The same amendment that protects a ranch protects a house lot in North Rapid and a storefront downtown. And the drone question is not rural at all. Fences and backyards are a city thing. If warrantless surveillance of private property bothers a rancher on ten thousand acres, it should bother you on a quarter acre. ### "Strong property rights will scare off development." Deals build this state, and a deal means both sides said yes. When a project can only happen by taking land from an unwilling owner for private gain, that is not development. That is force with paperwork. Real public use still works under HJR 5001. Declare the necessity and build the road. What ends is the shortcut where a private project rides through on government power. If a private project cannot get voluntary easements at an honest price, the problem is the offer, not the landowner. ### "Landowners already have protections. Why touch the constitution?" Because statutes bend. They get amended, weakened, and lawyered session after session, and the common carrier workaround is proof of how creative that lawyering can get. The constitution sits where lobbyists cannot reach it. Only the voters can change it. A right this basic belongs at that altitude. Sixty-two House members agreed. Five did not. ### "A Republican standing against a private project sounds anti-business." I am a businessman. Business is two parties saying yes. The things I want stopped are the things no honest business needs: deceptive easement practices, pressure at the kitchen table, a common carrier label that turns a private venture into a taking machine. Secure property rights are the ground floor of every honest deal in this state. The most pro-business rule South Dakota can write is simple. Here, you buy land from a willing seller. You do not take it. ## What I am asking of you Two things, and they fit on a card. Vote yes on the eminent domain amendment when it reaches your ballot this November. And send people to Pierre who will finish the rest of the work: ban the deceptive easement practices, end the common carrier workaround, put a warrant between government drones and your backyard, and stand with landowners every time the next model shows up. I did not come to property ownership as an investor. I came to it as a dad who needed a house near his son. Eight years later I know exactly what that deed means to my family, and I know what yours means to you. Your land is your land. Let's make the constitution say so. **Read the full platform at zac4sd.com. If you are ready to help, volunteer or donate while you are there.** --- Paid for by Zac Martin for South Dakota.