07:32 PM PDT on Friday, October 14, 2005

By kgw.com and AP Staff

SALEM -- A judge on Friday afternoon oveturned Oregon's voter-passed Measure 37 property compensation law, ruling it is unconstitutional.

AP photo

Steve Benton stands in his orchard outside Hood River, Ore., where residents are confronting the changes to land use planning wrought by Measure 37.

Marion County Circuit Judge Mary James struck down the law as violating five provisions of the state and federal constitutions.

The law -- passed on the November 2004 ballot -- requires that state and local governments either compensate land owners when regulations lower property values or waive the rules.

James said the statute violates equal protection provisions of the Oregon Constitution and a state constitutional ban on suspending laws.

She also ruled it breaches the separation of powers between government branches, "intrudes on" legislative authority and violates due process protections under the U.S. Constitution.

Proponent of the law said it protects property rights, but foes argued that it violates the "equal privileges and immunities" provisions of the state constitution because it gives benefits to people who buy their land before regulations were applied but not to those who purchase property later.

The judge said the distinction between those groups "is not reasonably related to a legitimate state interest and, therefore, is unconstitutional."

"We expect local governments and the state to heed this ruling and not enforce the law," said Bob Stacey, who heads 1000 Friends of Oregon -- the activist group that sued to overturn the law.

But Kevin Neely, a spokesman for the Oregon attorney general's office, said the state would seek a stay of James' decision pending an appeal.

"With today's ruling, we've gone from having many unanswered questions about Measure 37 to having many more," said Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski. "This ruling will not be the final word."

An appeal to the Oregon Court of Appeals and eventually to the Oregon Supreme Court had been expected no matter which way the trial court had ruled.

The voters approved Measure 37 after the property rights group Oregonians in Action mounted a campaign that put the proposals on the ballot by initiative petition.

The initiative group late Friday expressed "disbelief" at the judge's decision.

"This is the height of judicial activism," said Dave Hunnicutt, the president of Oregonians In Action. "It's another kick in the face to the citizens of this state who want nothing more than protection of their right to use their land as they could when they bought it."

Voters approved a similar property compensation measure in 2000 as a constitutional amendment. But the state Supreme Court threw it out, ruling that it contained too many changes to be rolled into a single amendment.