HBA-DMH C.S.S.B. 1128 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.S.B. 1128 By: Bernsen Transportation 5/18/2001 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, many Texas cities have provisions restricting or prohibiting the construction of billboards. However, there are no analogous restrictions that apply to roadways in rural and unincorporated areas. C.S.S.B. 1128 sets forth regulations regarding billboards along certain roadways and establishes design considerations the Texas Department of Transportation 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. 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 1 (Section 201.614, Transportation Code) of this bill. ANALYSIS C.S.S.B. 1128 amends the Transportation Code to set forth certain design 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. The bill requires the Texas Transportation Commission to adopt rules to implement the design considerations. The bill requires TxDOT to spend not less than $6 million annually for the installation and maintenance, for functional and aesthetic design purposes, of highway landscape improvements. The bill requires TxDOT to make reasonable efforts to spend more than $6 million annually for landscape improvements and prohibits TxDOT from installing or maintaining landscape improvements that will obscure a lawfully erected off-premise sign displaying advertising that pertains to a business, person, organization, activity, event, place, service, or product not principally located or primarily manufactured or sold on the premises on which the sign is located. The bill authorizes TxDOT to accept gifts, grants, and contributions from private and other sources for installing and maintaining landscaping improvements and provides that the use of gifts and grants is subject only to limitations contained in the gift or grant. The bill prohibits a person from erecting an off-premise sign that is adjacent to and visible from specified roadways or located in certain national forests. The bill prohibits these provisions from affecting the ability of a municipality to regulate a sign located on a portion of one of the specified roadways that is within the corporate limits or extraterritorial jurisdiction of the municipality. An off-premise sign that is visible from one of the specified roadways 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 may be reerected, reconstructed, repaired, or rebuilt only if the cost of such activity 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. The bill requires TxDOT to permit the relocation of an off-premise sign adjacent to and visible from one of the specified roadways to another location that is adjacent to and visible from the same roadway if: _the construction, reconstruction, or expansion of a roadway requires the removal of the sign; _the sign is not modified to increase the above-grade height, the area of each sign face, the dimensions of the sign face, the number of sign faces, or the illumination of the sign; and _TxDOT provides a minimum of three alternate sites for the relocation of the sign within 30 days of receipt of a request for a relocation site. The bill authorizes the owner of an off-premise sign that is reerected, reconstructed, repaired, rebuilt, or relocated to alter the materials and design of the sign to reduce the number of upright supports in a manner that meets or exceeds the preexisting structural specifications. A person who violates the provisions relating to the placement of billboards on the specified roadways is liable to the state for a civil penalty of not less than $500 or more than $1,000. A separate penalty may be imposed 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. The bill requires TxDOT to study current regulations affecting billboards in this state and the feasibility of adopting a scenic byways program in accordance with the national scenic byways program and to report the findings of the study to the 78th Legislature not later than January 1, 2003. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.S.B. 1128 differs from the original bill by prohibiting the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) from maintaining landscape improvements that will obscure a lawfully erected off-premise sign. The substitute specifies that the prohibition against erecting an off-premise sign does not affect a municipality's regulatory authority relating to certain off-premise signs located along a specified roadway within the municipality's corporate units or extraterritorial jurisdiction. The substitute provides that these provisions do not prohibit a person from erecting an off-premise sign permitted by other law, rule, or regulation that is adjacent to and visible from the specified roadways if the intended purpose of the sign is to create visibility limited to such a roadway. The bill requires TxDOT, rather than authorizes TxDOT by rule, to permit the relocation of an off-premise sign adjacent to and visible from a prohibited roadway. The substitute requires TxDOT to permit the relocation of an off-premise sign adjacent to and visible from a specified roadway to another location that is visible from the same roadway if TxDOT provides a minimum of three alternate sites for the relocation of the sign within 30 days of receipt of a request for a relocation site. The substitute removes the provision that TxDOT must approve the relocation of the sign. The substitute authorizes the owner of an off-premise sign that is reerected, reconstructed, repaired, rebuilt, or relocated to alter the materials and design of the sign to reduce the number of upright supports consistent with preexisting structural specifications. The substitute provides that before a suit may be brought for an off-premise sign violation, the substitute requires that the owner of the off-premise sign be notified in writing of the violation and specifies the information that the written notice must contain. The substitute includes provisions relating to the study of current regulations affecting billboards and the feasibility of adopting a scenic byways program.