Will Sen. Tony Rand's departure from the legislature mean that the bill seeking to limit local government's use of eminent domain will have a big Senate shoe lifted from its neck?

Rep. Paul Stam, an Apex Republiican and House minority leader, hopes that with Rand gone, the bill might have DOA erased from its margins.

How much would it matter?

Tyler Mulligan, an assistant professor of public law and government at the N.C. School of Government, writes that the amendment wouldn't much change current practices.

You can read Mulligan's post on the topic on the School of Government blog.

The departure of state Sen. Tony Rand has a lot of people wondering how the Senate will operate without the powerful master of rules, legislative maneuvers and hard-ball politics.

It even has state Rep. Paul Stam wondering if he'll finally get a favorite bill passed in the Senate. Stam, an Apex Republican and the chamber's minority leader, told Dome the other day that this could be the year that he gets a hearing in the Senate on a proposed constitutional amendment that would limit the government's use of eminent domain.

Stam just happened to have a copy of the bill with him, leading Dome to wonder if he carries it wherever he goes. The bill, which would prohibit the use of eminent domain if land would then be sold for economic development, didn't clear the House this year, but Stam said the Senate, and particularly Rand, have been the major obstacle in past years.

Dome asked whether Rand was the impediment or whether Rand was carrying out the wishes of the Democratic majority.

"That's what we'll find out," Stam said.

The House sent a proposed constitutional amendment restricting condemnations back to committee.

The amendment would prohibit the government from taking property through eminent domain for the purpose of selling the property for economic development. The amendment would also establish in the constitution that government can't take property without just compensation.

"It is a universal desire of all people in all cultures and all places that they want their property secure from a taking by the governmet or a taking by anybody," said Rep. Paul Stam, a co-sponsor of the bill and an Apex Republican.

House members said the bill should be taken off the House floor because Stam offered amendments to the bill.

"It just bothers me that we have a bill on the floor to amend the constitution and we're going to amend it at the last minute," said Rep. Ronnie Sutton, a Pembroke Democrat.

Stam said his amendments were minor and not unusual and were being used as an excuse by opponents to kill the bill.

The House voted 60 to 56 to send the bill back to committee.