Brown veto aids eminent-domain use
“One of the few bills that Gov. Jerry Brown has vetoed this session is AB 374, designed to help owners receive compensation for their business’s “goodwill” after the government uses the power of eminent domain. The bill’s author, Assemblyman Don Wagner, R-Irvine, told me the legislation was the victim of the governor’s push to build a rail line through the Central Valley. The veto “is coming from High Speed Rail. They (rail supporters) visited me with their hair on fire,” he said.
As the California Eminent Domain Law Group explains in its blog, “California’s Eminent Domain Law — unlike the laws of most other states — provides that a business owner may be entitled to any loss of business ‘goodwill’ caused by the taking of property on which the business is located.” State law defines it, the blog explains, as “The benefits that accrue to a business as a result of its location, reputation for dependability, skill or quality, and any other circumstances resulting in the probable retention of old or acquisition of new patronage.””
GReenhunt, Steven. U-T San Diego 3 October 2013.