By Coleman H.B. No. 2512
77R4467 JAT-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to landscaping and billboards along highways; imposing a
1-3 civil penalty.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 216.001, Local Government Code, is amended
1-6 by adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
1-7 (d) This subchapter does not allow the relocation or
1-8 reconstruction of a billboard in violation of Section 430.002,
1-9 Transportation Code.
1-10 SECTION 2. Section 216.901(a), Local Government Code, is
1-11 amended to read as follows:
1-12 (a) Subject to Section 430.002, Transportation Code, a [A]
1-13 home-rule municipality may license, regulate, control, or prohibit
1-14 the erection of signs or billboards by charter or ordinance.
1-15 SECTION 3. Subchapter H, Chapter 201, Transportation Code, is
1-16 amended by adding Section 201.614 to read as follows:
1-17 Sec. 201.614. DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS. (a) The department
1-18 shall consider the following factors when developing transportation
1-19 projects that involve the construction, reconstruction,
1-20 rehabilitation, or resurfacing of a highway, other than a
1-21 maintenance resurfacing project:
1-22 (1) the extent to which the project promotes safety;
1-23 (2) the durability of the project;
1-24 (3) the economy of maintenance of the project;
2-1 (4) the impact of the project on:
2-2 (A) the natural and artificial environment;
2-3 (B) the scenic and aesthetic character of the
2-4 area in which the project is located;
2-5 (C) preservation efforts; and
2-6 (D) each affected local community; and
2-7 (5) the access for other modes of transportation,
2-8 including those that promote physically active communities.
2-9 (b) Any person directly affected by the project under
2-10 consideration may petition the commission for a written review of
2-11 its findings regarding the considerations under Subsection (a).
2-12 (c) The commission shall adopt rules to implement this
2-13 section.
2-14 SECTION 4. Subchapter I, Chapter 201, Transportation Code, is
2-15 amended by adding Sections 201.708 and 201.709 to read as follows:
2-16 Sec. 201.708. LANDSCAPING EXPENDITURES. (a) In connection
2-17 with a contract for a highway project, the department shall
2-18 allocate to the district or districts in which the project is
2-19 located an amount equal to not less than one percent of the amount
2-20 to be spent under the contract for construction, maintenance, or
2-21 improvement of the highway. If two or more districts share an
2-22 allocation under this section, the districts shall divide the
2-23 allocation according to the portion of the amount under the
2-24 contract that will be spent in each district.
2-25 (b) A district that receives an allocation under this
2-26 section shall spend not less than one half of the allocation for
2-27 landscaping improvements associated with the project that was the
3-1 subject of the contract. The district may spend the allocated
3-2 money that is not used for landscaping improvements associated with
3-3 the project that was the subject of the contract for landscaping
3-4 improvements associated with another highway or highway segment
3-5 located in the district.
3-6 (c) The department may accept gifts, grants, and
3-7 contributions from private and other sources for the purposes of
3-8 this section. The use of gifts and grants is subject only to
3-9 limitations contained in the gift or grant.
3-10 (d) For purposes of this section:
3-11 (1) "Highway project" means a project for the
3-12 construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or expansion of a
3-13 highway, and does not include a project for maintenance resurfacing
3-14 of a highway; and
3-15 (2) "Landscape improvements" means planting of
3-16 indigenous or adapted trees and other plants that are suitable for
3-17 the climate in which they will be located, and preparing the soil
3-18 and installing irrigation systems for the growth of the trees and
3-19 plants.
3-20 Sec. 201.709. LANDSCAPE ENHANCEMENT ACCOUNT. The landscape
3-21 enhancement account is an account in the general revenue fund that
3-22 may be appropriated to the department only for the purposes of
3-23 Section 201.708. The account is composed of:
3-24 (1) money transferred to the account by the
3-25 legislature for purposes of Section 201.708;
3-26 (2) gifts, grants, and contributions received by the
3-27 department for purposes of that section; and
4-1 (3) penalties collected under Section 430.004.
4-2 SECTION 5. Section 391.001, Transportation Code, is amended
4-3 by amending Subdivision (10) and adding Subdivision (15) to read as
4-4 follows:
4-5 (10) "Outdoor advertising" means an outdoor sign,
4-6 display, light, device, figure, painting, drawing, message, plaque,
4-7 poster, [billboard,] or other thing designed, intended, or used to
4-8 advertise or inform if any part of the advertising or information
4-9 content is visible from the main-traveled way of the interstate or
4-10 primary system. The term includes a sign, display, poster, or
4-11 other message displayed on a billboard. The term does not include
4-12 a sign or marker giving information about the location of an
4-13 underground electric transmission line, telegraph or telephone
4-14 property or facility, pipeline, public sewer, or waterline.
4-15 (15) "Billboard" means a structure directly attached
4-16 to the land or a building that has a panel or other space that is
4-17 intended to be rented by a person other than the owner of the
4-18 structure for the display of outdoor advertising.
4-19 SECTION 6. Section 394.001, Transportation Code, is amended
4-20 by amending Subdivision (5) and adding Subdivision (6) to read as
4-21 follows:
4-22 (5) "Sign" means a structure, display, light device,
4-23 figure, painting, drawing, message, plaque, poster, [billboard,] or
4-24 other thing that is designed, intended, or used to advertise or
4-25 inform. The term includes a sign or other message displayed on a
4-26 billboard.
4-27 (6) "Billboard" has the meaning assigned by Section
5-1 391.001.
5-2 SECTION 7. Subchapter A, Chapter 394, Transportation Code, is
5-3 amended by adding Section 394.006 to read as follows:
5-4 Sec. 394.006. RELATIONSHIP TO PROHIBITION AGAINST
5-5 CONSTRUCTION OF NEW BILLBOARDS. This chapter does not allow the
5-6 erection or relocation of a billboard in violation of Section
5-7 430.002.
5-8 SECTION 8. Section 394.043(a), Transportation Code, is
5-9 amended to read as follows:
5-10 (a) An on-premise or off-premise sign, when displayed, must
5-11 be designed to resist wind loads as follows:
5-12 Height in feet Wind load pressure
5-13 above ground in pounds for each square foot
5-14 0-5 0
5-15 6-30 20
5-16 31-50 25
5-17 51-99 35
5-18 100-199 45
5-19 200-299 50
5-20 300-399 55
5-21 400-500 60
5-22 501-800 70
5-23 Over 800 77
5-24 SECTION 9. Chapter 430, Transportation Code, is amended by
5-25 adding Sections 430.002, 430.003, and 430.004 to read as follows:
5-26 Sec. 430.002. PROHIBITION ON BILLBOARDS VISIBLE FROM
5-27 HIGHWAY. (a) In this section:
6-1 (1) "Billboard" has the meaning assigned by Section
6-2 391.001.
6-3 (2) "Highway" means the width between the boundary
6-4 lines of a publicly maintained way any part of which is open to the
6-5 public for vehicular travel.
6-6 (b) A person may not:
6-7 (1) erect a billboard; or
6-8 (2) repair or rebuild a billboard that is
6-9 substantially destroyed.
6-10 (c) For the purposes of this section, a billboard is
6-11 substantially destroyed if the cost of repairing or rebuilding the
6-12 billboard is more than 60 percent of the cost of erecting a new
6-13 billboard of the same size, type, and construction at the same
6-14 location.
6-15 (d) This section does not apply to a billboard that
6-16 displays:
6-17 (1) a sign to protect life or property;
6-18 (2) a directional or other official sign authorized by
6-19 law, including a sign that relates to a natural wonder or a scenic
6-20 or historic attraction; or
6-21 (3) a sign erected by an agency or political
6-22 subdivision of this state.
6-23 (e) The department shall adopt rules for the administration
6-24 and enforcement of this section and Section 430.003.
6-25 Sec. 430.003. RELOCATION OF BILLBOARD. (a) A person does
6-26 not violate Section 430.002 if the person relocates a billboard
6-27 and:
7-1 (1) the construction, reconstruction, or expansion of
7-2 a highway requires the removal of the billboard;
7-3 (2) the same type of billboard supports are used at
7-4 the new location;
7-5 (3) the height above the grade level of the road from
7-6 which the sign on the billboard is viewed, the dimensions and area
7-7 of the sign face on the billboard, or the number of sign faces on
7-8 the billboard are not increased; and
7-9 (4) the municipality in whose corporate limits or
7-10 extraterritorial jurisdiction, or the county in whose
7-11 unincorporated area outside municipal extraterritorial
7-12 jurisdiction, the relocation is proposed allows the relocation of
7-13 the billboard and approves the site to which the billboard will be
7-14 relocated.
7-15 (b) The commission may designate protected highways or
7-16 portions of highways in the state along which a billboard may not
7-17 be relocated.
7-18 Sec. 430.004. CIVIL PENALTY. (a) A person who violates
7-19 Section 430.002 is liable to the state for a civil penalty of not
7-20 not less than $500 or more than $1,000 for each violation,
7-21 depending on the seriousness of the violation. A separate penalty
7-22 may be collected for each day a continuing violation occurs.
7-23 (b) The attorney general, the district or county attorney
7-24 for the county, or the municipal attorney of the municipality in
7-25 which the violation is alleged to have occurred may bring a suit to
7-26 collect the penalty.
7-27 (c) A civil penalty collected by the attorney general under
8-1 this section shall be deposited in the landscape enhancement
8-2 account under Section 201.709. A civil penalty collected in a suit
8-3 brought by a county or district attorney or by a municipal attorney
8-4 under this section shall be equally divided between this state and
8-5 the applicable county or municipality, with this state's portion of
8-6 the penalty collected to be deposited in the landscape enhancement
8-7 account.
8-8 SECTION 10. (a) Sections 201.614, 201.708, and 201.709,
8-9 Transportation Code, as added by this Act, apply only to contracts
8-10 for highway projects signed by the Texas Department of
8-11 Transportation on or after the effective date of this Act.
8-12 Contracts signed by the department before the effective date of
8-13 this Act are covered by the law in effect on the date the
8-14 department signed the contract, and the former law is continued in
8-15 effect for that purpose.
8-16 (b) This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.