Prop 90—A Trojan Horse for California

Landowners are forcing projects on communities because Oregon’s law now permits them to sue for millions in lost profits if approval is denied. In Clackamas County, for example, a gravel pit mine, complete with blasting and a rock-crushing machine may be opened just a few hundred feet from homes. In other areas, builders are trying to force huge developments into previously protected farmland. Perhaps the most egregious example of the disastrous consequences of the Oregon law is the case of a property owner with a small plot of land next to a volcanic national monument. He is seeking $203 million because he says proximity to the protected area has impeded his potential for growth and lowered his property value.

Naturally, Oregon can't pay for all of these claims. And that is the whole point. The wealthy out of state ideologues who have forced measures like Proposition 90 onto state ballots across America don’t want government to pay citizen claims - they want the laws that protect your community to be eliminated. Under Proposition 90’s mandate, taxpayers would have to hand over money to property owners if a community wanted lower-density development, or chose to protect watersheds, or to preserve historical buildings, or to enact consumer regulations, or to change police staffing patterns, or to change the timing of traffic lights. . . the list is as expansive as the imagination of the legal eagles who will prosper under this law.

Once Proposition 90 passed even the most frivolous lawsuits would lead to costly litigation. A more accurate title for the proposition would be “The Full Employment for Lawyers Act.” Proposition 90 also contains the equivalent of “Lawyer Catnip” - payment for damages for government action AND inaction. And, get this, plaintiffs who prevail under Proposition 90 get their attorneys fees paid for by the taxpayers. If plaintiffs lose, the taxpayers still get to pay for their own defense. The taxpayers pay either way.

Prop.90 will instigate numerous lawsuits, potentially bankrupting the state. It will remove any ability for a community to protect itself from unmitigated development and sprawl. It will stifle consumer protections. It will paralyze government, but that is what it is meant to do. Prop. 90 goes far beyond reasonable eminent-domain reform. Don’t be fooled by the trap. Vote no Prop. 90.

John A. Russo is Oakland’s first elected City Attorney. He was re-elected to a second, four-year term in March 2004. He is not related to Frank Russo, as far as we have been able to determine.