Also known as: state bodies · state-body · state organ · state entity · governmental body
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A governmental entity or agency created by state law that may hold and enforce conservation servitudes for public benefit.
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The State Parks Commission holds a conservation servitude over wetlands donated by a private owner. When the commission seeks to assign the benefit to a private land trust, the court blocks the transfer. Only another governmental body or qualified conservation organization may receive the benefit under the creating instrument.
The State Environmental Board issues a permit that the legislature attempts to override through a resolution without presentment to the governor. The court invalidates the override. A state body may not exercise legislative power outside the constitutionally required bicameral process and presentment.
The State Public Service Commission bans promotional advertising by electric utilities to conserve energy. A utility challenges the ban as violating commercial speech protections. The court applies intermediate scrutiny and upholds the regulation because the state body demonstrated a substantial interest and narrow tailoring.
The State Transportation Authority awards construction contracts only to minority-owned firms without evidence of past discrimination by the authority itself. A non-minority contractor sues. The court strikes down the program because the state body failed to satisfy strict scrutiny with particularized findings.
The State Police Department enforces a total ban on handgun possession in the home. A resident challenges the prohibition. The court holds the ban unconstitutional because the state body may not disarm law-abiding citizens in their residences under the Second Amendment.
The State Education Board collects agency fees from non-union teachers to fund collective bargaining. Teachers object that the fees violate their First Amendment rights. The court rules the mandatory fees unconstitutional because the state body may not compel support for union speech.
A state body may hold and enforce conservation servitudes for public benefit. Private parties lack the same transfer restrictions and public-purpose protections that apply to governmental holders.
…seeks a variance from that status. "[W]e have made it quite clear that the mere assertion of regulatory jurisdiction by a governmental body does not constitute a regulatory taking." United States v. Riverside Bayview Homes, Inc. , 474 U. S. 121, 126 (1985). See also Williamson County , 473 U. S., at 188 (claim not ripe…