A South Dakota Senate committee refused Wednesday to repeal a 1-year-old law that is intended to speed up the eminent domain process when railroads seek to acquire land for projects.

The Legislature last year passed a law that requires the governor or state Transportation Commission to act within 90 days of when a railroad seeks permission to use eminent domain to acquire property.

The State Affairs Committee voted 8-5 to kill HB1165, which would have repealed the law passed last year. The lawmakers who opposed the bill said it's too early to scrap last year's law.

The bill's main sponsor, Rep. Lance Russell, R-Hot Springs, said he does not oppose the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad's $6 billion project to haul coal to eastern states by renovating its existing line across South Dakota and building new line around the southern Black Hills into Wyoming's coal fields.

But Russell said 90 days is not enough time for landowners and state officials to review a railroad's proposal to use eminent domain. "It's unreasonable and it's impractical."

Sen. Tom Hansen, R-Huron, said last year's law should be kept on the books. The DM&E has been working for more than a decade on the expansion project, and the railroad has been working with landowners during that period, he said. Some opponents have tried to stop the project by delaying it through lawsuits and other processes, he said.

Former South Dakota Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert A. Miller, who is acting as hearing examiner for the Transportation Commission in the case, wrote last year that he thinks the 90-day deadline for approving eminent domain applications is unconstitutional. He did not enforce that time limit, and the commission recently held a hearing on the DM&E's application.

The Transportation Commission is expected to rule on the eminent domain application within the next couple of months, state Transportation Secretary Darin Bergquist said.