BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND HOUSING
Senator Jim Beall, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 1373 Hearing Date: 6/28/16
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|Author: |Santiago |
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|Version: |9/2/2015 |
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|Urgency: |Yes |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant|Randy Chinn |
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SUBJECT: Outdoor advertising: City of Los Angeles
DIGEST: This bill provides an exemption from regulations of the
Outdoor Advertising Act (OAA or Act) for signs allowed by a City
of Los Angeles ordinance in relation to the number and location
of billboards in an area bounded by West 8th Street on the
northeast, South Figueroa Street on the southeast, Interstate 10
on the southwest, and State Route 110 on the northwest, if
certain conditions are satisfied.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Establishes the OAA, which regulates the placement of
advertising displays adjacent to and within specified
distances of highways that are part of the national system of
interstate, defense highways, and federal-aid highways.
2)Prohibits any advertising display from being placed or
maintained on property adjacent to a section of a freeway that
has been landscaped if the advertising display is designed to
be viewed primarily by persons traveling on the main-traveled
way of the landscaped freeway.
3)Provides for limited exemptions to the prohibition on
advertising along system and landscaped freeways, including
exemptions for signs advertising the property's sale or lease,
signs designating the premises or its owner, and signs
AB 1373 (Santiago) Page 2 of ?
advertising goods or services manufactured or produced on the
property itself.
4)The OAA generally does not apply to on premise advertising
displays, which include those advertising the sale of the
property upon which it is placed or that advertise the
business conducted, services rendered, or goods produced or
sold on the property. Local government regulates on premise
displays, except for certain safety requirements.
5)Allows a single advertising structure exemption for each of
several cities, including an exemption for advertising on
street furniture in San Francisco, several billboards situated
on the grounds of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum complex,
and structures within the Mid-City Recovery Redevelopment
Project Area within Los Angeles.
6)Requires the Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to assess
penalties for a violation of the OAA, as specified. If an
advertising display is placed or maintained in a location that
does not conform to the relevant statutes or local ordinances,
and is not removed within thirty days of written notice from
the department or the city or the county with land use
jurisdiction over the property upon which the advertising
display is located, a penalty of $10,000 plus $100 for each
day the advertising display is placed or maintained after the
department sends written notice shall be assessed and the
gross revenues received by the violator shall be disgorged.
Caltrans may also request recovery of its legal costs.
7)Provides, by contractual agreement, for Caltrans to administer
the federal Outdoor Advertising Control (OAC) program, which
has restrictions similar to California's OAA program,
including maximum sign size, sign spacing, location,
illumination, and content. If the state fails to properly
administer the federal program, the state shall lose 10% of
its federal highway funding.
This bill:
1) Provides an exemption from regulations of the OAA for signs
allowed by a City of Los Angeles ordinance in relation to the
number and location of billboards in an area bounded by West
8th Street on the northeast, South Figueroa Street on the
southeast, Interstate 10 on the southwest, and State Route 110
AB 1373 (Santiago) Page 3 of ?
on the northwest.
2)Requires the City of Los Angeles ordinance to provide for all
of the following:
a) Maximum number of signs and total signage allowed
b) Maximum individual signage area
c) Minimum sign separation
d) Illumination restrictions
e) Illuminated sign hours of operation
1)Prohibits the advertising display from advertising products,
goods, or services related to tobacco, firearms, or sexually
explicit material.
2)If the advertising display is subject to notice from the
Federal Highway Administration that the operation of the
display will result in the reduction of federal highway funds,
the authorization of the display shall cease and the owner
shall remove all advertising copy within 60 days.
3)This is an urgency bill.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, the purpose of this bill is
to allow the use of revenue generating advertising displays
within a small area of downtown Los Angeles. The author
believes this bill will spur the construction of needed hotels
in support of the Los Angeles Convention Center, the Sports
and Entertainment District, and the City's financial district.
The bill also empowers the City of Los Angeles to control its
urban streetscape and interface with the state highways
bisecting its urban core, according to the author.
2)Where? The area affected by this bill is described by the
author as a small area of downtown Los Angeles known as the
Avenue of the Angels. It encompasses an area approximately
eight blocks long adjacent to State Route 110 and Interstate
10. This area is a major entertainment and commercial area
encompassing the Los Angeles Convention Center, the Stables
Center, the Nokia Theatre, and a Marriott hotel. The freeways
in this area are among the most heavily traveled in the state,
carrying about 20,000 cars per hour.
3)Creating a conflict. This bill creates a conflict between the
AB 1373 (Santiago) Page 4 of ?
desire of Los Angeles to raise funds from billboards to
support local development, and the responsibility of the state
to ensure driver safety through the administration of state
law and the federal Control OAC program. From the perspective
of the city, billboard revenue will be maximized with more
signs that attract the attention of drivers, whether through
the number of signs, their location, brightness, or attractive
content. From the perspective of the state, catchier signs
distract drivers, which will lead to more accidents and
injury, particularly along a heavily traveled freeway with
numerous merges, onramps and off-ramps.
4)Caltrans enforcement. State law contains numerous billboard
restrictions intended to prevent compromising driver safety
and cluttering the freeway. These include restrictions on the
sign size, location, and proximity to similar signs, lighting
and content. Many of these provisions are similar to those
contained in federal law, originally established in 1965
through the Lady Bird Johnson Highway Beautification Act. In
1968 Caltrans entered into a contractual agreement with the
Federal Highway Administration (FHA) to implement and enforce
federal law. The penalty for failure to enforce federal law
is severe: 10% of federal highway funds with the potential to
apply the penalty retroactively. In the face of such
penalties it is not surprising that Caltrans is doing a good
job upholding its obligations under the contract. In 2012 the
FHA reviewed Caltrans' effectiveness and was quite
complimentary, specifically noting significant improvement
since the prior FHA review. However, the review was not
without suggestions for improved enforcement.
5)Permission, not forgiveness. The provision requiring removal
of the advertising display if found in violation of the
state's contract with FHA (subdivision (b) of the bill) should
be revised, as it could easily lead to wasted expenditures and
costly litigation. This is because that provision only
provides for after-the-fact enforcement. At that point,
millions of dollars and months of time will have been spent on
billboards which could be unusable if found in violation of
federal law by Caltrans or the FHA. The penalties for illegal
billboards are significant, including fines, disgorgement of
profits, and legal fees. A more cost-effective process would
be to obtain preapproval of the signs, from either Caltrans or
the FHA, before they are erected. This was the process used
in legislation authorizing billboards at the Oakland Coliseum.
AB 1373 (Santiago) Page 5 of ?
The author and committee may wish to revise the bill to
reflect this more cost effective mechanism.
6)Local control, state responsibility. This bill allows Los
Angeles to develop its own billboard regulations, while the
state retains the responsibility for enforcing the specific
provisions of the federal OAC program. This gives Los Angeles
some flexibility, though that flexibility is constrained by
the federal OAC that restricts billboard spacing, location,
size, illumination, and content. The bill provides for Los
Angeles to hold Caltrans harmless if the city fails to enforce
compliance with the legislation.
7)Whose sign? There have been concerns from the outdoor
advertising industry about whether they will have an
opportunity to compete to provide the advertising display
and/or the content of that display. The author and the
industry continue to discuss this issue.
8)Speech. Some opponents raise concerns that the prohibition
against advertising firearms is unconstitutional. The
language in the bill contains the same content restrictions as
SB 31 (Padilla, Chapter 542 of 2013 - authorized advertising
displays for products, goods, or services sold at specified
arenas) which passed both houses of the Legislature without a
"no" vote on either floor; SB 694 (Correa, Chapter 545 of 2013
- authorized advertising displays at public transit
terminals), and AB 2339 (Solorio; Chapter 493 of 2008 -
authorized advertising displays at publicly owned sports
arenas).
9)Waiving committee policy. This committee has a policy not to
hear bills which create specific exemptions from the Outdoor
Advertising Act. The committee will need to waive its policy
to hear this bill.
Related Legislation:
AB 400 (Alejo; Chapter 693 of 2015) - Required Caltrans, by June
30, 2016, to update its internal policies to allow displays of
safety, transportation-related, and voting-related messages on
changeable message signs, as defined, subject to approval by the
United States Department of Transportation.
SB 31 (Padilla; Chapter 542 of 2013) - Allows for local control
AB 1373 (Santiago) Page 6 of ?
while establishing statewide guidelines for advertising displays
at professional sports facilities and arenas.
SB 684 (Hill; Chapter 544 of 2013) - Amends the redevelopment
agency exemption to the Outdoor Advertising Act to reflect the
elimination of redevelopment agencies.
SB 190 (Perata; Chapter 54 of 2001) - Exempted from the OAA the
prohibition against placing advertising displays adjacent to
landscaped freeways, up to five advertising structures or signs
(billboards) used to support the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
Complex.
Assembly Votes
Floor: 1-6
Appropriations: 16-1
G.Org.: 19-1
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday,
June 22, 2016.)
SUPPORT:
Greenland USA
Hanjin International Corporation
OPPOSITION:
California Association of Federal Firearms Licensees
Coalition to Ban Billboard Blight
Firearms Policy Coalition
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