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House Bill 412 |
House Author: Eissler et al. |
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Effective: 9-1-07 |
Senate Sponsor: Carona |
House Bill 412 amends the Transportation Code to add allowing outdoor advertising to be erected or maintained on one's property to the offense of erecting or maintaining outdoor advertising in certain places. The bill also adds a district or county attorney to the persons authorized to sue to collect a penalty under the law governing nuisance outdoor advertising. The bill amends the law regulating outdoor signs to provide that a person who intentionally violates the law may be, rather than is, liable for a civil penalty and to provide that a civil penalty is to be deposited to the credit of the state highway fund if collected by the attorney general and to the credit of the county road and bridge fund if collected by a district or county attorney. The bill makes it a misdemeanor offense punishable by a prescribed fine to erect an off-premise sign without a permit. The bill also applies this offense and penalty to knowingly allowing an unauthorized sign to be erected on one's property and provides that before a suit may be brought against a property owner for a violation of this law, the attorney general or the district or county attorney must give the person charged with the violation written notice. House Bill 412 establishes a defense to prosecution for any offense relating to unauthorized outdoor signs on rural roads. The bill authorizes the attorney general or a district or county attorney to apply for an injunction to require the removal of an unauthorized sign and entitles the state or county to recover all administrative and legal costs related to the sign's removal. The bill adds an exemption for certain temporary signs approved by the Texas Department of Transportation to these provisions.