On Wednesday the State House of
Representatives approved an amended bill intended to bring the state into
compliance with federal law on freeway billboard maintenance and construction.
The legislation will now go back to the Senate for additional debate.
The first amendment to the bill requires an
entity applying to upgrade a nonstandard billboard to surrender three permits
for billboards visible from highways when applying for a digital permit, as
well as the payment of additional fees. The requirement would be imposed one
year after the bill is enacted.
A nonstandard sign is one erected before
March 23, 1999 that complies with the Highway Advertising Act, but is built
closer than 1,000 feet to another sign structure on the same side of the
highway in an industrial or unzoned commercial area.
The second amendment provided spacing
requirements for billboards in communities with less than 750,000 people.