05:02 PM MDT on Thursday, June 29, 2006

Associated Press

BOISE -- An initiative that would require government to pay any Idaho landowner whose property value is reduced by land-use laws has qualified for the November ballot.

Initiative sponsor Laird Maxwell yesterday turned in more than 49,000 signatures to qualify the measure.

Jerry Mason, an attorney who represents the Association of Idaho Cities, says cities and counties will not be able to afford to pay landowners who choose to use the law.

The New York-based Fund for Democracy spent $237,000 to pay a Colorado firm to collect signatures in Idaho for the measure.