Opinion: Governor should veto billboard bill

According to rumor, asserted as fact by some political friends of the billboard lobby, Gov. Jeb Bush promised to sign legislation that would force local governments to pay dearly for signs they want taken down, no matter how ugly, numerous or out of place they might be. If so, it would be deplorable.

Bush's spokespersons say he made no such commitment. Citizens who hope that's true shouldn't lose any time telling him their side of it. Only a week remains for him to veto the bill (CS for HB 715) or let it become law.

The bill is a brazen violation of the responsibilities of local governments and of the rights of local citizens. If it becomes law, communities would either have to pay for the billboards they want taken down or agree, on terms dictated by the billboard companies, to replacement signs at locations where present regulations would not allow them. A local government couldn't even require sign removal as a condition for approving a development unless the application was for single-family residences only. Most astonishingly, a community that bought land for a park or any other public purpose would have to pay again to terminate any billboard lease that came with it, even when the lease ran out.

Legislators scarcely paused for any decent debate on the bill, which mimicked language from wide-ranging transportation legislation that Bush vetoed for other reasons last year. The case for the bill, as sponsors put it, is that it protects property rights. The case against it rests on a community's inherent right to rid itself of visual clutter that degrades everyone's quality of life and detracts from the value of residential property nearby. In fact, Florida courts have upheld sign-removal ordinances that allow a reasonable amortization period, usually five to seven years, before offending signs must be taken down.

The billboard lobby got this bill through the Legislature by dividing the opposition. Grandfather clauses exempt some cities and counties that have already reached settlements with billboard companies or are involved in litigation with them. That apparently leaves Pinellas County free to continue trying to enforce the billboard ordinance it passed 10 years ago. The legislation shows no mercy, however, to some 40 counties and cities that have yet to adopt billboard laws or didn't do so early enough. Those include Miami-Dade, whose delegation was unable to expand the exemptions.

HB 715 is a glaring example of how a special interest can apply skillful lobbying and well-placed campaign contributions to get whatever it wants from the Legislature. Only the governor can stop it now. Clearly, he should.

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