2003S0536-1 03/07/03
By: Armbrister S.B. No. 1249
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to procedures for compensating owners of outdoor
advertising that is subject to condemnation.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Title 4, Property Code, is amended by adding
Chapter 30 to read as follows:
CHAPTER 30. CONDEMNATION OF OUTDOOR ADVERTISING
Sec. 30.001. POLICY; PURPOSE. (a) It is the policy of this
state to encourage governmental entities to enter into relocation
and reconstruction agreements with owners of outdoor advertising to
allow the governmental entities to undertake public projects and
accomplish public goals and to allow the continued maintenance of
private investment in outdoor advertising as a medium of commercial
and noncommercial communication.
(b) The purpose of this chapter is to establish an
efficient, economical, and fair system of resolving disputes
between governmental entities and owners of outdoor advertising as
an alternative to eminent domain court proceedings.
Sec. 30.002. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Governmental entity" means:
(A) the state, a county, or a municipality;
(B) a public school district or other
special-purpose district or authority; or
(C) a board, commission, department, office, or
other agency in the executive branch of state government.
(2) "Sign" means an outdoor structure, sign, display,
light device, billboard, or any other thing that:
(A) is designed, intended, or used to advertise
or inform; and
(B) is visible from the main-traveled way of a
street or a highway.
(3) "Relocation and reconstruction agreement" means a
contractual agreement between a sign owner and a governmental
entity for:
(A) the reconstruction of an existing sign; or
(B) the removal of a sign and the construction of
a new sign to substitute for the sign removed.
Sec. 30.003. RELOCATION AND RECONSTRUCTION AGREEMENT. A
governmental entity and a sign owner may enter into a relocation and
reconstruction agreement on whatever terms are agreeable to the
parties and to provide for the relocation and reconstruction of a
sign by agreement, ordinance, or resolution.
Sec. 30.004. PAYMENT OF JUST COMPENSATION FOR REMOVAL OR
ALTERATION. A governmental entity may not remove or cause to be
removed, or cause in any way the alteration of, a lawfully erected
sign located along any portion of an interstate highway, state
highway, farm-to-market road, federal-aid primary highway, or
other highway system, or along any road or street, without first
paying just compensation to the owner of the sign for the removal or
alteration according to an agreement between the parties or through
eminent domain proceedings under Chapter 21.
Sec. 30.005. NOTIFICATION TO OWNER OF SIGN. (a) If a
governmental entity undertakes a public project or public goal
requiring the removal or alteration of a lawfully erected sign, the
governmental entity shall notify the owner of the affected sign in
writing of the public project or goal and of the intention of the
governmental entity to seek the removal or alteration of the sign.
(b) Not later than 30 days after the owner of the sign
receives notice under Subsection (a), the parties shall attempt to
meet for the purposes of negotiating and executing a relocation and
reconstruction agreement as provided under Section 30.003.
Sec. 30.006. NONBINDING ARBITRATION. (a) If the sign
owner and the governmental entity fail to enter into a relocation
and reconstruction agreement within 120 days after the initial
notification by the governmental entity under Section 30.005,
either party may request mandatory nonbinding arbitration to
resolve the disagreements between the parties.
(b) If a request for arbitration is made under Subsection
(a), each party shall select an arbitrator, and the individuals
selected shall choose a third arbitrator. The three arbitrators
shall constitute the panel that will arbitrate the dispute between
the parties. At the conclusion of the proceedings, the arbitration
panel shall present to the parties a proposed relocation and
reconstruction agreement that the panel believes equitably
balances the rights, interests, obligations, and reasonable
expectations of the parties.
(c) If the governmental entity and the sign owner accept the
proposed relocation and reconstruction agreement, each party shall
pay its respective costs of the arbitration and each shall pay
one-half of the costs of the arbitration panel unless the parties
agree to some other fractional sharing of the costs.
Sec. 30.007. RIGHT TO PROCEED AFTER PAYMENT OF
COMPENSATION. If the parties do not enter into a relocation and
reconstruction agreement, the governmental entity may proceed with
the public project or purpose and the removal or alteration of the
sign, but only after the governmental entity pays just compensation
to the sign owner, as determined by agreement between the parties or
through eminent domain proceedings under Chapter 21.
Sec. 30.008. NO EFFECT ON POWER OF EMINENT DOMAIN OR
AUTHORITY TO REGULATE SIGNS. (a) This chapter does not limit the
authority of a governmental entity to acquire a lawfully erected
sign through eminent domain or to regulate the placement, size,
height, or other aspects of a new sign within the governmental
entity's jurisdiction, including the prohibition of new signs,
unless otherwise provided by this chapter.
(b) This chapter does not impair any ordinance, or a
provision of any ordinance, that is not inconsistent with this
chapter, including a provision that creates a ban or partial ban on
new signs.
Sec. 30.009. ACQUISITION OF PROPERTY THROUGH VOLUNTARY
TRANSACTION. A governmental entity that acquires property in a
voluntary transaction may not require that a lawfully erected sign
be altered or removed from the premises on which it is located
without the payment of just compensation.
Sec. 30.010. APPLICATION OF CHAPTER. (a) This chapter
applies only to a lawfully erected sign the subject matter of which
relates to:
(1) merchandise, services, activities, or
entertainment not sold, produced, manufactured, or furnished on the
premises on which the sign is located; or
(2) premises other than the premises on which the sign
is located.
(b) This chapter does not apply to an action to require the
relocation, reconstruction, or removal of a sign under Subchapter
A, Chapter 216, Local Government Code, or to the acquisition of a
sign under Section 391.033, Transportation Code, if the owner of
the sign agrees in writing to use the provisions of either of those
laws.
(c) This chapter does not apply to an ordinance the
validity, constitutionality, or enforceability of which the owner
has, by written agreement, waived all right to challenge.
SECTION 2. Section 216.001, Local Government Code, is
amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (d) to
read as follows:
(a) This subchapter is not intended to require a
municipality to provide for the relocation, reconstruction, or
removal of any sign in the municipality, nor is it intended to
prohibit a municipality from requiring the relocation,
reconstruction, or removal of any sign. This subchapter is
intended only to authorize a municipality to take that action and to
establish a [the] procedure by which the municipality may do so.
(d) This subchapter is intended as an alternative to Chapter
30, Property Code, and may be used only if the owner of a sign agrees
in writing to waive the owner's right to use the procedures provided
under that chapter.
SECTION 3. Subsection (a), Section 216.003, Local
Government Code, is amended to read as follows:
(a) Subject to the requirements of this subchapter and
Chapter 30, Property Code, a municipality may require the
relocation, reconstruction, or removal of any sign within its
corporate limits or extraterritorial jurisdiction.
SECTION 4. Subsection (a), Section 216.004, Local
Government Code, is amended to read as follows:
(a) If a municipality requires the relocation,
reconstruction, or removal of a sign within its corporate limits or
extraterritorial jurisdiction and the owner of the sign agrees in
writing to use the provisions of this subchapter, the presiding
officer of the governing body of the municipality shall appoint a
municipal board on sign control. The board, if appointed, must be
composed of:
(1) two real estate appraisers, each of whom must be a
member in good standing of a nationally recognized professional
appraiser society or trade organization that has an established
code of ethics, educational program, and professional
certification program;
(2) one person engaged in the sign business in the
municipality;
(3) one employee of the Texas Department of
Transportation who is familiar with real estate valuations in
eminent domain proceedings; and
(4) one architect or landscape architect licensed by
this state.
SECTION 5. Subsection (a), Section 216.005, Local
Government Code, is amended to read as follows:
(a) If the owner of a sign that is required to be relocated,
reconstructed, or removed agrees in writing to use the provisions
of this subchapter rather than the provisions of Chapter 30,
Property Code, the [The] municipal board on sign control shall
determine the amount of the compensation to which the owner [of a
sign that is required to be relocated, reconstructed, or removed]
is entitled. The determination shall be made after the owner of the
sign is given the opportunity for a hearing before the board about
the issues involved in the matter.
SECTION 6. Section 216.006, Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
Sec. 216.006. COMPENSATION FOR RELOCATED SIGN. The
compensable costs for a sign that is required to be relocated
include the expenses of dismantling the sign, transporting it to
another site, and reerecting it. If the owner of the sign agrees in
writing to use the provisions of this subchapter rather than the
provisions of Chapter 30, Property Code, the [The] board shall
determine the compensable costs according to the standards
applicable in a proceeding under Chapter 21, Property Code. In
addition, the municipality shall issue to the owner of the sign an
appropriate permit or other authority to operate a substitute sign
of the same type at an alternative site of substantially equivalent
value. Whether an alternative site is of substantially equivalent
value is determined by standards generally accepted in the outdoor
advertising industry, including visibility, traffic count, and
demographic factors. The municipality shall compensate the owner
for any increased operating costs, including increased rent, at the
new location. The owner is responsible for designating an
alternative site where the erection of the sign would be in
compliance with the sign ordinance.
SECTION 7. Section 391.033, Transportation Code, is amended
by amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (c) to read as
follows:
(b) If an acquisition is by eminent domain, the commission
shall, subject to Subsection (c), pay just compensation to:
(1) the owner for the right, title, leasehold, and
interest in the outdoor advertising; and
(2) the owner or, if appropriate, the lessee of the
real property on which the outdoor advertising is located for the
right to erect and maintain the outdoor advertising.
(c) The compensation provided under Subsection (b) is
intended as an alternative to Chapter 30, Property Code, and may be
used only if the owner of an outdoor advertising sign agrees in
writing to waive the owner's right to use the procedures provided
under that chapter.
SECTION 8. This Act takes effect September 1, 2003, and
applies only to the notification of an intention to require the
relocation, reconstruction, removal, or alteration of an outdoor
advertising sign delivered on or after the effective date of this
Act. A notification delivered before the effective date of this Act
is governed by the law in effect immediately before that date, and
that law is continued in effect for that purpose.