SRC-JEC S.B. 1128 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS Senate Research CenterS.B. 1128 By: Bernsen Intergovernmental Relations 6/20/2001 Enrolled DIGEST AND PURPOSE Currently, many Texas cities have provisions restricting or prohibiting the construction of billboards. However, municipal restrictions do not apply in rural and unincorporated areas. S.B. 1128 requires the Texas Department of Transportation to consider aesthetic, safety, and environmental factors in its construction planning; it bans new billboards on certain sections of highways; it creates a civil penalty for violation of the restriction on billboards; and it requires a study to determine the feasibility of adopting a scenic byways program in Texas. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY Rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the Texas Transportation Commission in SECTION 1 (Section 201.614, Transportation Code) of this bill. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Chapter 201H, Transportation Code, by adding Section 201.614, as follows: Sec. 201.614. DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS. Requires the Texas Department of Transportation (department) to consider certain factors when developing transportation projects that involve the construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or resurfacing of a highway, other than a maintenance resurfacing project. Requires the Texas Transportation Commission (commission) to adopt rules to implement this section. SECTION 2. Amends the heading to Chapter 391, Transportation Code, to read as follows: CHAPTER 391. HIGHWAY BEAUTIFICATION ON INTERSTATE AND PRIMARY SYSTEMS AND CERTAIN ROADS SECTION 3. Amends Chapter 391, Transportation Code, by adding Subchapter I, as follows: SUBCHAPTER I. PROHIBITION OF SIGNS ON CERTAIN HIGHWAYS Sec. 391.251. DEFINITIONS. Defines "off-premise sign" and "advertising." Sec. 391.252. OFF-PREMISE SIGNS PROHIBITED. (a) Prohibits a person, subsequent to the effective date of this subchapter, from erecting an off-premise sign that is adjacent to and visible from certain highways and roads. (b) Provides that this section does not affect the ability of a municipality to regulate a sign located on the portion of a roadway listed in Subsection (a) that is within the corporate limits or extraterritorial jurisdiction of the municipality in accordance with Chapter 216, Local Government Code. (c) Provides that this section does not prohibit a person from erecting an off-premise sign permitted by other law, rule, or regulation that is adjacent to and visible from a roadway not listed in this section and is visible from a roadway listed under this section if the intended purpose of the sign is to be visible only from the roadway not listed under this section. Sec. 391.253. REERECTION, RECONSTRUCTION, REPAIR, OR REBUILDING OF OFF-PREMISE SIGNS. (a) Authorizes an off-premise sign that is adjacent to and visible from a highway listed in Section 391.252 that is blown down, destroyed, taken down, or removed for a purpose other than maintenance or to change a letter, symbol, or other matter on the sign to be reerected, reconstructed, repaired, or rebuilt only if the cost of doing so is not more than 60 percent of the cost of erecting a new off-premise sign of the same size, type, and construction at the same location. (b) Requires the department to permit the relocation of an off-premise sign adjacent to and visible from a highway listed in Section 391.252 to another location that is adjacent to and visible from the same highway if certain conditions are met. (c) Requires the department, for purposes of this section, to specify, within thirty days of receipt of a request for a relocation site, a minimum of three alternate sites that meet permitting requirements for an off-premise sign to be reerected, reconstructed, repaired, or rebuilt adjacent to and visible from a highway listed in Section 391.252. (d) Authorizes the owner of an off-premise sign that is reerected, reconstructed, repaired, or rebuilt according to Subsection (a) or relocated according to Subsection (b) to alter the materials and design of the sign to reduce the number of upright supports, subject to other restrictions in this section, in a manner that meets or exceeds the pre-existing structural specifications of the sign. Sec. 391.254. CIVIL PENALTY. (a) Provides that a person who violates Section 391.252 is liable to the state for a civil penalty of not less than $500 or more than $1,000 for each violation, depending on the seriousness of the violation. Authorizes a separate penalty to be collected for each day a continuing violation occurs. (b) Authorizes the attorney general, the district or county attorney for the county, or the municipal attorney of the municipality in which the violation is alleged to have occurred to bring suit to collect the penalty. (c) Requires a civil penalty collected by the attorney general under this section to be deposited to the credit of the state highway fund. (d) Requires the attorney general, the district or county attorney for the county, or the municipal attorney of the municipality in which a violation is alleged to have occurred, before a suit may be brought, to give the owner of the off-premise sign a certain written notice. Sec. 391.255. APPLICABILITY OF SUBCHAPTER. Provides that the restrictions imposed by this subchapter are in addition to those imposed by the remainder of this chapter. Sec. 391.256. SCENIC BYWAYS PROGRAM. Requires the department to study current regulations affecting billboards in this state, including vegetation control regulations, and the feasibility of adopting a scenic byways program in accordance with 23 U.S.C. Section 162. Requires the department to report the findings of the study to the legislature not later than January 1, 2003. Provides that this section expires January 2, 2003. SECTION 4. Effective date: September 1, 2001.