Editorial: PISTOL’s costly side effect

Thursday, Oct. 19, 2006 | 7:33 a.m.

A financial analysis of Question 2, the so-called property owner's bill of rights, which will be on the ballot this fall, brings this chilling number: $6.5 billion.

That's what the initiative will cost Nevada taxpayers in increased highway construction costs, traffic congestion and lost federal highway funds over 25 years if it passes, according to a report by the respected Las Vegas firm Applied Analysis.

That should be enough reason to kill it, but Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury, among the initiative's most outspoken critics, thinks Question 2 will probably pass. That would be a shame, because all it would do is put a further strain on already tight budgets for public works projects and highway construction - yes, your commute will grow longer.

Question 2 is a constitutional amendment, so it would need to pass Nov. 7 and in 2008 to become law. It would force governments to pay above market rates for any land taken through eminent domain, outlaw selling such land to a private developer and mandate that any land taken but unused after five years be offered for sale to the previous owner.

We do agree that government should take only what it needs and use it for a specific public, not private, purpose. We also agree that eminent domain cases should be closely scrutinized and held to a high standard.

Question 2 supporters say the initiative will curb "government abuses," such as governments selling land taken by eminent domain. It sounds like that's happening already. State lawmakers have pledged to take up the issue, and the Clark County Commission has passed an ordinance outlawing taking land and turning around and handing it over to a private developer.

But there is no ordinance or law that can restore $6.5 billion to pay for highways and ease congestion - unless it's a tax increase. And we don't want to go down that road.