Judge Richard Hicks approved a 30-word "ballot title" for the measure that's almost identical to the wording the Washington State Farm Bureau, I-933's sponsor, had wanted. Opponents, including environmentalists and the League of Women Voters of Washington, called the language misleading and incomplete and said it will make their task more difficult.

Under state law, Hicks' ruling is final.

The ballot title is the handful of words that will be used to summarize the initiative on the November ballot, should it qualify. Backers and foes of I-933 fought fiercely over the language; political scientists say many voters base their decisions largely on ballot titles.

Initiative 933 would require state and local governments to either pay landowners the difference in most instances when land-use regulations lower property values, or waive those rules. Property owners would be entitled to exemptions or compensation for restrictions imposed since 1996.

Hicks approved with only minor changes the ballot title drafted by the state Attorney General's Office and supported by the Farm Bureau. It doesn't spell out the exemption option explicitly; opponents said that is its greatest shortcoming.

Oregon's experience with a similar initiative shows governments are more likely to waive rules than provide compensation.

Initiative 933's ballot title

Here's the summary Washington voters will see on the November ballot if the property-rights measure qualifies:

"This measure would require compensation when government regulation damages the use or value of private property, would forbid regulations that prohibit existing legal uses of private property, and would provide exceptions or payments."

"The ballot title doesn't reflect what the initiative actually does to change the law," said Tom Ahearne, a lawyer for I-933's opponents. "I guess we become Houston, with no zoning."

But assistant attorney general Jim Pharris said the exemption alternative is implied.

And Farm Bureau attorney Richard Stephens said I-933 doesn't provide government with any authority to waive rules that it doesn't already have.

"The opponents were trying to obscure the main point of the initiative," said Dan Wood, the Farm Bureau's government-relations director. "Governments should compensate when they damage property."

Backers must collect the signatures of 224,880 registered voters by July 7 to get I-933 on the November ballot. The ballot-title dispute has delayed that effort.

"We print [petitions] tomorrow," Wood said after Hicks' ruling.

Eric Pryne: 206-464-2231 or epryne@seattletimes.com

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