Billboard protection law on hold

I want to thank Sen. Hank Erwin for agreeing to put a "hold" on SB 197. This was the bill he sponsored that said a billboard destroyed by natural causes could be reconstructed if it met federal, state and (added later) local guidelines. Many people had expressed concern to Sen. Erwin about the bill's possible effect on local government authority, even with the amendment.

The bill had already passed the Senate and was assigned to the State Government Committee in the House, chaired by Rep. Oliver Robinson. On Monday night, I hand-delivered a letter to the clerk of the committee, who was in Birmingham for a meeting, requesting that the matter be held over for a public hearing. Then I traveled to Montgomery on Tuesday, when the committee hearing was scheduled. I had the opportunity to meet with Sen. Erwin. He said his intention on the bill was to help out the "mom and pop" operations whose entire business might be wiped out by a natural disaster. I explained that any billboard company, large or small, could reconstruct a billboard right now if there were no law against it. In our view, there was no urgent need for the bill but there was a risk if it were passed. I also told him about the situation in Daphne, where a large company had reconstructed a board in direct defiance of local law.

I think Sen. Erwin was genuinely concerned about the reaction of local governments to the proposal, and he did not want them to be adversely affected. He agreed to ask Rep. Robinson to hold the bill over for a public hearing. Sen. Erwin will have to request the hearing, but it is unlikely that the bill will move forward at this point. Sen. Erwin has several other legislative issues he is very involved with, and it was my impression that SB 197 would not be urgent enough to push at this point. I did tell him that I felt the state's entire tourism signage program needed to be looked at and a good quality comprehensive program put in place. That's something we can take up next session.

Bottom line, the bill is probably not going to go anywhere this session. I will continue to monitor it, and if Sen. Erwin decides to request a public hearing, I'll let everyone know.