News Archive
Professor Cynthia Baker Discusses Bloomington Annexation on WTIU
12/20/2021
Some residents adjacent to Bloomington, Indiana, are gathering signatures they hope will invalidate their annexation into the city. Some properties have agreements that prohibit homeowners from challenging annexation in exchange for city services they have received. The Indiana General Assembly put a 15-year cap on those waivers in 2019 and now some residents are using that to invalidate their annexation. Professor Cynthia Baker talked about the issues with a reporter from WTIU for a story broadcast December 17.
Bloomington leaders call the 2019 law unconstitutional because it seeks to retroactively void contracts and vow to challenge the law in court if annexations are halted.
“This is just another example of here's a local government that's trying to plan, trying to respond,” Professor Baker said in the story.” The city council was elected, the ordinance is passed at the local government level, and then the state swoops in and then just handcuffs them again a little bit.”
The city may have a good case, Professor Baker said. “Our legislature can be arbitrary and capricious, but I'm not sure they can reach back in time like that and undo, undo a private contract.”
Professor Baker is a clinical professor of law and director of the Program on Law and State Government at IU McKinney.
