ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 675
(Senators Ross and Love, original sponsors)
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[Passed March 13, 2004; in effect ninety days from passage.]
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AN ACT to amend and reenact §17-22-13, §17-22-15 and §17-22-16 of
the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to
the issuance of licenses and permits for outdoor advertising
signs; increasing fees for licenses and permits; and
establishing fees for inspections of signs and sign locations.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §17-22-13, §17-22-15 and §17-22-16 of the code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read
as follows:
ARTICLE 22. OUTDOOR ADVERTISING.
§17-22-13. Licenses required; application; expiration; exceptions;
revocations; judicial review.
No person shall engage or continue in the business of outdoor
advertising in this state without first obtaining a license for
outdoor advertising from the commissioner; and no person shall construct, erect, operate, use, maintain, lease or sell any outdoor
advertising sign, display or device in this state without first
obtaining a license from the commissioner. The commissioner shall
charge an annual license fee in the amount of one hundred
twenty-five dollars, payable in advance, for licensees obtaining up
to twenty permits. Licensees, including subsidiaries and
affiliates, obtaining twenty-one or more permits shall pay an
annual fee of one thousand dollars, payable in advance.
Applications for licenses, or renewal of licenses, shall be made on
forms furnished by the commissioner and shall contain any pertinent
information required by the commissioner and shall be accompanied
by the annual fee. Licenses granted under this section expire on
the thirtieth day of June of each year and shall not be prorated.
Applications for the renewal of licenses shall be made not less
than thirty days prior to the date of expiration. Nothing in this
section shall be construed to require any person to obtain a
license who constructs, erects, operates, uses or maintains an
outdoor advertising sign, display or device solely on his or her
own property.
The commissioner may, after thirty days' notice in writing to
the licensee, make and enter an order revoking any license granted
by him or her upon repayment of a proportionate part of the license
fee, in any case where he or she finds that any material
information required to be given in the application for the license is knowingly false or misleading or that the licensee has violated
any of the provisions of this article, unless the licensee, before
the expiration of said thirty days, corrects the false or
misleading information and complies with the provisions of this
article. The order shall be accompanied by findings of fact and
conclusions of law upon which the order was made and entered. Any
person adversely affected by an order made and entered by the
commissioner is entitled to judicial review of the order. The
judicial review shall be in the circuit court for the county in
which the owner of the sign has his or her principal place of
business in this state, or in the circuit court of Kanawha county
if all parties agree. The judgment of the circuit court is final
unless reversed, vacated or modified on appeal to the supreme court
of appeals of West Virginia. Legal counsel and services for the
commissioner in appeal proceedings in any circuit court and the
supreme court of appeals shall be provided by the attorney general
or his or her assistants, and in appeal proceedings in any circuit
court by the prosecuting attorney of the county as well, all
without additional compensation. The commissioner may employ
special counsel to represent the commissioner in a particular
proceeding.
§17-22-15. Permit required for each sign, etc.; applications;
refusal of permits; expiration and renewal; change
of advertising copy; revocation; fee; judicial review.
(a) Except as in this article otherwise provided, no person
shall construct, erect, operate, use, maintain or cause or permit
to be constructed, erected, operated, used or maintained any
advertising sign, display or device without first obtaining a
permit for the advertising sign, display or device from the
commissioner and paying the annual fee for the advertising sign,
display or device as provided in this section. The commissioner
shall not issue a permit to any person who has not obtained the
license provided for in section thirteen of this article.
(b) A separate application for a permit shall be made for each
separate advertising sign, display or device, on a form furnished
by the commissioner, the application shall be signed by the
applicant or his or her representative duly authorized in writing
to act for him or her and shall describe and set forth the size,
shape and the nature of the proposed advertising sign, display or
device and its actual or proposed location with sufficient accuracy
to enable the commissioner to locate and identify it. Every
application for a changeable message sign shall be accompanied by
a fee of five hundred dollars, which shall be retained by the
commissioner if the permit is issued. Every application for all
other signs shall be accompanied by a fee of twenty dollars for
each advertising sign, display or device, which shall be retained
by the commissioner if the permit is issued. In addition, a nonrefundable inspection fee of seventy-five dollars shall be
charged for each proposed location along interstate and federal-aid
primary highways. A nonrefundable inspection fee of twenty-five
dollars shall be charged for each proposed location along all other
public roads. An annual permit renewal fee, not to exceed sixty
dollars per permit, shall be charged for renewal of each changeable
message sign. Permit renewal fees for all other signs shall be
established by legislative rule not to exceed twenty-five dollars
per permit annually. Each portion of an advertising sign upon
which a display is posted or exhibited constitutes a separate
advertising sign for purposes of this section. If the permit is
refused, the commissioner shall make and enter an order to that
effect and shall cause a copy of the order to be served on the
applicant by certified mail, return receipt requested, and shall
refund one-half the fee to the applicant. The order shall be
accompanied by findings of fact and conclusions of law upon which
the order was made and entered. Each application shall be
accompanied by an affidavit of the applicant or his or her agent
that the owner or other person in control or possession of the real
property upon which the advertising sign, display or device is to
be constructed, erected, operated, used or maintained has consented
to having the advertising sign, display or device on his or her
property. Application shall be made in like manner for a permit to
operate, use or maintain any existing advertising sign, display or device. Permits issued under this section expire on the thirtieth
day of June of each year and shall not be prorated and may be
renewed upon the payment of a renewal fee as provided in this
section. No application is required for a renewal of a permit.
(c) For all signs other than changeable message signs, if more
than one side of an advertising sign is used for advertising, a
permit application or renewal fee for each side is required. One
permit application or renewal fee shall be charged for each
changeable message sign. Advertisements sculptured in the round
shall be treated as using three sides.
(d) The holder of a permit, during the term of the permit, has
the right to change the advertising copy of the structure or sign
for which it was issued without payment of any additional fee.
(e) The commissioner may, after thirty days' notice in writing
to the permittee, make and enter an order revoking any permit
issued by him or her under this section upon repayment of a
proportionate part of the fee in any case where it shall appear to
the commissioner that the application for the permit contains
knowingly false or misleading information or that the permittee has
violated any of the provisions of this article, unless the
permittee shall, before the expiration of the thirty days, correct
the false or misleading information and comply with the provisions
of this article. The order shall be accompanied by findings of
fact and conclusions of law upon which the order was made and entered. If the construction, erection, operation, use or
maintenance of any advertising sign, display or device for which a
permit is issued by the commissioner and the permit fee has been
paid as provided for in this section is prevented by any zoning
board, commission or other public agency which also has
jurisdiction over the proposed advertising sign, display or device,
or its site, the fee for the advertising sign, display or device
shall be returned by the commissioner and the permit revoked. But
one-half the fee shall be considered to have accrued upon the
erection of an advertising sign or structure or the display of
advertising material followed by any inspection by the commissioner
or his or her representatives.
(f) Any person adversely affected by an order made and entered
by the commissioner refusing to grant or revoking a permit is
entitled to judicial review of the order. The judicial review
shall be: (1) In the county in which the person applying for the
permit has his or her principal place of business in this state; or
(2) in the circuit court for the county in which the sign for which
the permit is sought is to be located; or (3) in the circuit court
of Kanawha County if all parties agree. The judgment of the
circuit court is final unless reversed, vacated or modified on
appeal to the supreme court of appeals of West Virginia. Legal
counsel and services for the commissioner in appeal proceedings in
any circuit court and the supreme court of appeals shall be provided by the attorney general or his or her assistants, and in
appeal proceedings in any circuit court by the prosecuting attorney
of the county as well, all without additional compensation. The
commissioner may employ special counsel to represent the
commissioner in a particular proceeding.
§17-22-16. Permit identification number for signs; fastening to
signs.
Every permit issued by the commissioner shall be assigned a
separate identification number and each permittee shall fasten to
each advertising sign or device and each advertising display not
posted on an advertising sign a label or marker not larger than two
inches by six inches, which shall be furnished by the commissioner,
and on which shall be plainly visible the permit number, the
expiration date of the permit and the name of the permittee.
Permittees shall be charged five dollars for each label or marker
issued. The construction, erection, operation, use or maintenance
of an outdoor advertising sign, display or device without having
affixed to it a label or marker shall be prima facie evidence that
it has been constructed or erected and is being operated, used or
maintained in violation of the provisions of this article.
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