Here's what folks are saying about yesterday's unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision in Sheetz v. County of El Dorado, where the Court held that impact fees and exactions imposed by legislative action are not categorically immune from the close nexus and rough proportionality requirements already applicable to ad hoc/administratively-imposed exactions under Nollan, Dolan, and Koontz.
- Ilya Somin, "Supreme Court Rules There Is No 'Legislative Exception' to the Takings Clause" (Volokh) ("At oral argument, it seemed like the justices might be interested in going beyond the legislative exception issue, possibly addressing the underlying question of whether the fee imposed in this case was a taking or not. However, the Court chose not to deal with that question, which will now be remanded back to the California state courts for their consideration.")
- Editorial Board, "A Bad Day for Greedy Politicians at the Supreme Court" (Wall St. Journal) ("But Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in a concurrence that the Court’s Nollan and Dolan tests should apply similarly when “an alleged taking affects a ‘class of properties’” as with a particular development. We tend to agree, and the question may return to the Court. The good news for now is that elected officials can’t extort property developers with impunity")
- Amy Howe, "Court rules for property owner in building fee dispute" (SCOTUSblog) ("In her 11-page opinion for a unanimous court, Barrett explained that nothing in the text of the Constitution indicates that the takings clause does not apply to fees imposed by legislatures. The same is true, she continued, for the history of the takings clause. 'In fact,' she wrote, 'special deference for legislative takings would have made little sense historically, because legislation was the conventional way that governments exercised their eminent domain power.' Nor, she added, do the Supreme Court’s cases interpreting the takings clause distinguish in any way 'between legislation and other official acts.'")
- Charles Gardner and Emily Hamilton, "Opinion: This Supreme Court case from California could ease housing shortages everywhere" (Los Angeles Times) ("When 'impact fees' are unmoored from the increased costs a city or county will incur because of a new house or development, the fees can do more than present someone with an unfair bill — they can also reduce housing construction. In a country where a shortage of homes has led to sky-high prices, this matters more than you might think.")
- Amanda Karras, "Supreme Court Decides Impact Fee Case" (IMLA blog) ("The Court’s narrow ruling was not entirely surprising after oral argument as it noted that the parties agreed on this bottom line holding as the County conceded at oral argument that 'building permits are not exempt from scrutiny under Nollan and Dolan just because a legislature imposed them.' The silver lining was that in reaching this narrow holding, the Court declined to address any other arguments 'including whether a permit condition imposed on a class of properties must be tailored with the same degree of specificity as a permit condition that targets a particular development.' In other words, the Court did not rule on Mr. Sheetz's arguments that Nollan and Dolan require local governments to make individualized determinations regarding the impact fees.")
We'll have more, including our own thoughts soon.
