CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – A Senate task force agreed Tuesday that legislative changes are needed to strengthen private property owners’ rights in eminent domain cases.

But the panel struggled with how to write a law that balances the landowners’ rights with the public’s need to take their property in some circumstances.

They said the key is deciding what public uses necessitate government overriding private rights.

The group rejected putting a list into statute because that might be too limiting, electing instead to draft a more general definition of “public use.”

Sen. Dick Green said he also wants to give voters the option of amending the state constitution to prevent government from taking private land and turning it over to private developers.

“We would have to be very careful in how we word it so we don’t cause more trouble in the process,” said Green, R-Rochester.

Senate President Tom Eaton appointed the panel to review the state’s eminent domain laws.

A House panel also reviewed the laws.

Both panels were formed after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling permitted New London, Conn., officials to take a group of older homes along the city’s waterfront for a private developer who plans to build offices, a hotel and convention center. The court said states can pass more restrictive laws.