HBA-TBM H.B. 2512 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2512 By: Coleman Transportation 4/27/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Current law in Texas may not adequately provide for the beautifying of Texas landscapes. Some people consider billboards erected along Texas highways to be detrimental to the scenic views such highways offer. House Bill 2512 provides for the inclusion of landscaping in highway construction projects and prohibits the construction of billboards. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking authority is expressly delegated to the Texas Transportation Commission in SECTION 3 (Section 201.614, Transportation Code) and to the Texas Department of Transportation in SECTION 9 (Section 430.002, Transportation Code) in this bill. ANALYSIS House Bill 2512 amends the Transportation Code to set forth the factors the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is required to consider when developing transportation projects that involve the construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, or resurfacing of a highway other than a maintenance resurfacing project. Any person directly affected by the project under consideration is authorized to petition the Texas Transportation Commission (TTC) for a written review of its findings regarding the considerations. The bill requires TTC to adopt rules to implement the design considerations (Sec. 201.614). The bill requires TxDOT to allocate to the department district or districts in which a highway project is located an amount equal to not less than one percent of the amount to be spent under the contract for construction, maintenance, or improvement of the highway, not less than half of which is required to be spent on landscaping improvements. The bill sets forth provisions regarding the distribution and use of the allocation. TxDOT is authorized to accept gifts, grants, and contributions from private and other sources to fund landscaping allocations (Sec. 201.708). The bill establishes the landscape enhancement account as an account in the general revenue fund that may be appropriated to TxDOT only for the purposes of funding landscaping allocations. The account is composed of money transferred to the account by the legislature for the purposes of funding landscaping allocations, gifts, grants, and contributions received by TxDOT, and civil penalties collected for violations relating to the construction of billboards (Sec. 201.709). The bill provides that the wind resistance requirements for an on-premise or off-premise sign apply only when the sign is displayed (Sec. 394.043). The bill prohibits a person from erecting a billboard or from repairing or rebuilding a substantially destroyed billboard that is visible from a highway with certain exceptions. A billboard is substantially destroyed if the cost of repairing or rebuilding the billboard is more than 60 percent of the cost of erecting a new billboard of the same size, type, and construction at the same location. The bill requires TxDOT to adopt rules for the administration and enforcement of these provisions (Sec. 430.002). The bill provides for the relocation of a billboard and authorizes TTC to designate protected highways or portions of highways in the state along which a billboard may not be relocated (Sec. 430.003). A person who violates the provisions relating to the placement of billboards is liable to the state for a civil penalty of not less than $500 or more than $1,000. A separate penalty may be collected for each day a continuing violation occurs. The bill sets forth provisions regarding a suit to collect the penalty and disposition of the collected monies (Sec. 430.004). The bill amends the Local Government and the Transportation codes to provide that provisions relating to the regulation of signs by municipalities and home-rule municipalities and the regulation of outdoor signs on rural roads are subject to the prohibition against the construction of new billboards (Secs. 216.001 and 216.901, Local Government Code and Sec. 394.006, Transportation Code). EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.