COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 675
(By Senators Ross and Love)
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[Originating in the Committee on Finance;
reported February 27, 2004.]
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A BILL 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
therefor 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
such a license from the commissioner.
The
fee for such license, hereby imposed for revenue for the use of the
state, shall be one hundred dollars per annum, payable annually in
advance. 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
such any pertinent information
as required by the commissioner
may
require and shall be accompanied by the annual fee. Licenses
granted under this section
shall 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
shall have authority may, after thirty days'
notice in writing to the licensee,
to 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
shall
find 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
such the licensee
shall, before the
expiration of said thirty days,
correct such corrects the false or
misleading information and
comply complies with the provisions of
this article.
Such The order shall be accompanied by findings of
fact and conclusions of law upon which
such the order was made and
entered. Any person adversely affected by an order made and
entered by the commissioner is entitled to judicial review
thereof
of the order.
Such The judicial review shall be in the circuit
court for the county in which the owner of
such 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
thereto. The judgment
of the circuit court
shall be 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
therefor for the advertising sign, display or device from
the commissioner and paying the annual fee
therefor for the
advertising sign, display or device as
herein provided
in this
section. The commissioner shall not issue
such 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,
which 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
one dollar twenty
dollars for each advertising sign, display or device, which
fee
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
shall
constitute 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
such the order to be served on
such the applicant by certified
mail, return receipt requested, and shall refund one-half the fee
to the applicant.
Such The order shall be accompanied by findings
of fact and conclusions of law upon which
such 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
such the advertising sign, display or device is to be constructed, erected,
operated, used or maintained has consented
thereto 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
hereunder shall 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
the same fee required to be paid
upon application for a permit a renewal fee as provided in this
section. No application
shall be 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
such side
shall be 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
shall, during the term
thereof of
the permit,
have 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
shall have authority may, after thirty
days' notice in writing to the permittee,
to 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
such the permittee shall, before the expiration of
said the
thirty days, correct
such the false or misleading information and
comply with the provisions of this article.
Such The order shall
be accompanied by findings of fact and conclusions of law upon
which
such 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
above provided
, shall be 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
such
the advertising sign, display or device shall be returned by the
commissioner and the permit revoked. But one-half the fee shall be
deemed 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
thereof of the order.
Such 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
thereto.
The judgment of the circuit court
shall be 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
it shall be the duty of each
permittee
to 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
said 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
thereto such to it
a label or marker shall be prima facie evidence that
the same 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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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow revenues from
outdoor advertising to cover a greater percentage of the cost of
administering and enforcing outdoor advertising regulations.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.)
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