Legislative Fix to Texas’ Billboard Ban is Racing Against End-of-Session Deadline

 

State lawmakers are racing against the clock to correct Texas’ sign ordinance, struck down last year by an appeals court, or else “Keep Texas Beautiful” might take a two-year hiatus when it comes to billboards.

State House and State Senate committees both in the past week discussed legislation to make highway sign rules rely on prohibiting commercial use of signs near roadways and not on what message is being conveyed. The Texas House Transportation Committee passed its version of a fix Thursday morning. Similar legislation is pending in the Senate Transportation Committee, which discussed it Wednesday.

 

“Billboard Bob” is gone, but the billboard industry is back with a vengeance.

Sen. Bob Rucho, a Mecklenburg Republican, earned the moniker in 2011 when he co-sponsored legislation allowing billboard companies to chop down more trees to make their signs more visible. The new law also stripped local governments of much of their power in regulating billboards.

Rucho has retired from the General Assembly, but other legislators – primarily House Rules Committee Chairman David Lewis – are now taking the lead in further helping billboard companies at the expense of trees and local governments. The House could take up as many as five bills this week that are friendly to the industry.

Together, they represent an exhaustive wish list from billboard companies. Without a public outcry, at least some appear likely to pass.

Among the changes afoot:

If you keep up with the news in Pittsburgh-as you no doubt do, astute reader of NEXTpittsburgh that you are-you already know that there has been plenty of chatter in recent weeks about a proposal to install a Hollywood-style letter sign that says “Pittsburgh” in place of the garish yellow Sprint banner currently atop Mt. Washington.

Not so fast, says Michael Dawida, executive director of Scenic Pittsburgh and author of the letter to current billboard owners Lamar Advertising that started this whole conversation.

 

The realignment of Maple Avenue will go forward without the threat of continued litigation over two billboards located in the new right-of-way.

Lamar Central Outdoor LLC and Schenectady County have reached a $37,000 settlement after Lamar, which owned the billboards, sued the county in December.

The lawsuit by the national advertising company accused the county of bad faith negotiations and sought $50,000 compensation, but a court order filed Friday says the parties settled for $37,000, and acknowledgement that four other Lamar billboards along Maple Avenue will not be affected.

PEABODY, MA – No more billboards.

If there ever were a plaintive cry from Peabody city councilors, that would be it. Councilors though are trying to ensure that soon becomes a reality.

Two separate motions came from the council earlier this month – the first to have City Solicitor Michael Smerczynski draft language to permanently ban any future billboards from cropping up, and second, for Smerczynski to review the current billboard regulations to remove any loopholes by which advertising companies could add extra screens or make other unwanted alterations.

“I suggest we make the moratorium permanent (and) make it clear that the city will no longer entertain any new applications,” said councilor Tom Walsh, referring to a moratorium the council first enacted in 2014 after a proliferation of billboards along the city’s stretch of Route 1 and Route 128.

The council is scheduled to take up the matter in committee on April 27.