Oregon Supreme Court Upholds Measure 37

The Oregon Supreme Court today reversed a lower court judgment that had invalidated Measure 37, the ballot initiative that requires compensation to be paid to landowners when land-use regulations reduce property values.  The opinion is available here.  The Oregonian also has a story on the opinion.

I've linked to recent essays on Measure 37 here and here.  I've noted before that although I tend to be relatively pro-property rights on takings issues, I think Measure 37 is overbroad and a really bad idea.  But the voter anger behind Measure 37 is real, and combined with the post-Kelo backlash should cause land-use planners to question whether consistently sticking it to property owners is a good long-term strategy.  Oregon land-use planners probably wouldn't be facing potential disaster if they had made some modest accommodations to property owners' interests from the outset.

Ben Barros

UPDATE:  Todd Zywicki has a short post on the decision here.

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