Former District Judge Don Chairez, right, drops off signatures Monday at the Clark County Elections Department for his initiative petition placing restrictions on eminent domain proceedings. Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax looks on. Photos by Samantha Clemens. Kelly Fisher with the Clark County Elections Department counts initiative petitions submitted Monday.

CARSON CITY -- Supporters of a constitutional amendment to prevent governments from abusing their right to take private land through eminent domain legal proceedings turned in petitions Monday signed by more than 136,000 residents.

Signature gatherers for the People's Initiative to Stop The Taking of Our Land, or PISTOL, collected far more than the 83,184 signatures needed to place the issue before voters in the November election.

"Most people who were asked signed the petition," said former District Judge Don Chairez, the leader of the petition drive and a Republican candidate for attorney general. "It was hard to find anyone who was against it."

Voters must approve the question in November and then again in the November 2008 election to change the constitution.

Today is the final day for people who circulated petitions to amend the constitution to turn in signatures.

Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, said his supporters have collected more than the minimum number for their Tax And Spend Control in Nevada petition, known as TASC.

With voter approval, that initiative would prevent all governments from increasing their spending more than the combined rate of inflation and population growth. Beers could not give an exact count on how many signatures TASC supporters have collected. They will turn in signatures today.

Chairez said his petition is designed to stop abuses in which government acquires private land through eminent domain proceedings and then sells the land to facilitate private development. The petition states government transfers of land from one private party to another are not allowed public uses.

He and others were angered in June 2005 by the U.S. Supreme Court's 5-4 decision in the Kelo v. New London case. That decision permitted the local government in New London, Conn., to force out 15 owners of homes who had refused to sell their property for development of office buildings and housing being built by pharmaceutical company Pfizer.

Chairez said his effort is not designed to stop legitimate eminent domain proceedings, such as government acquiring land for schools and roads. But he added there has been abuse of eminent domain proceedings in Nevada. He mentioned how the family of Carol Pappas had to fight the city of Las Vegas for 11 years before it received just compensation for its downtown property. The city seized the family's property in 1993 for use as a parking garage for businesses.

The Pappases initially were offered $380,000. After years of litigation, they settled for $4.5 million in 2004.

"People normally aren't as strong as the Pappases, and they cave in," Chairez said. "The governments undervalue their property and threaten them."

Under PISTOL, all appraisals of land a government wants to acquire must be given to the property owners before a case is taken to court. Owners also are entitled to have district court juries determine that the land to be taken will be for a public use, not for a private development.

When compensation is determined, property owners must be given "the highest price the property would bring on the open market." Property owners are not liable to the government for attorneys fees and must be given money for the economic losses of their property.

Petitions were turned in Monday at the Clark County Election Department and other counties around the state in which signatures were collected.

Before being formally placed on the ballot, the signatures must be counted by county clerks and election department workers.

Then if the total still is more than then 83,184 signature minimum, clerks must check a sample of 5 percent of signatures for their accuracy.

They have three weeks to verify the accuracy of the sample. Then if the sampling shows the total still is above the 83,184 minimum, the secretary of state's office will deem the petition has qualified for the election ballot.

Chairez said his organization wanted to collect far more than the minimum to ensure the petition would qualify should some signatures be ruled invalid.

Beers also wanted to collect more than the minimum number for his TASC petition. Bob Adney, who directs the TASC organization, said their goal was to collect at least 113,000 signatures.

"I'm feeling pretty good," Adney said about their chances. "We are still counting, but it looks like we will get there."

On the other hand, Assemblywoman Sharron Angle, R-Reno, was closed-mouthed about whether her organization collected enough signatures for her Proposition 13 initiative.

Angle has tried for more than two years to put before voters an initiative to limit property tax increases to no more than 2 percent per year. Her proposal is patterned after California's Proposition 13, implemented by voters there in 1978.

"We will be turning in our petitions Tuesday," said Angle, a Republican candidate for the Congressional District 2 seat.

In response to skyrocketing property tax increases, the 2005 Legislature last year passed a law that limits owner-occupied residential property tax increases to 3 percent a year and commercial property tax increases to 8 percent a year. Angle was the only legislator to vote against the bill.

She noted at the time that unlike a constitutional amendment, a law passed by the Legislature can be changed by another legislative vote at any time.