Taxpayers To Pay Lost Income If Sign Removal Required Lawmakers Sign Off On Bill For Billboard Owners

Lawmakers gave final approval Monday to legislation requiring cities, counties and the state to pay billboard owners for their lost income if they require a billboard sign to be removed.

Despite protests that the bill would make taxpayers pay millions of dollars for signs if a road has to be widened, the measure passed the House on a 60-9 vote. It had earlier passed the Senate, and now goes to the governor.

The legislation was requested by Idaho Outdoor Advertising, which hired lobbyist Russell Westerberg to push the bill.

“It’s a fairness issue,” said floor sponsor Rep. Frank Bruneel, R-Lewiston.

Bruneel, who said during an earlier committee hearing that he’s had problems with removal of billboards advertising his chain of tire stores, said, “I think it would just protect the rights of a segment of our business.”

Rep. Jim Stoicheff, D-Sandpoint, spoke against the bill, saying it essentially would define billboards as real property under eminent domain laws. They are taxed as personal property.

When personal property is removed, taxpayers pay its value, but not the lost potential income.

“To treat ‘em as real property when they’re just a piece of wood and a sign that can be moved around, I think that’s carrying it a little far,” Stoicheff said.

The bill also defines any billboard that’s been standing without challenge for five years as “legally placed” regardless of whether it was legal when erected, and prohibits cities or counties from requiring removal of a billboard as a condition for approving another, unrelated land use on the same property.

Although supporters of the bill said illegal signs that haven’t been challenged are rare, the Idaho Transportation Department said it encounters them frequently during road construction projects.

North Idaho Reps. Stoicheff; Carol Pietsch, D-Sandpoint; June Judd, D-St. Maries; and Chuck Cuddy, D-Orofino, voted no.

The rest of North Idaho’s House delegation favored the bill.

, DataTimes