A bill calling for a network of at least 200 emergency-message digital billboards is heading toward a Texas House vote.
But the Federal Highway Administration has warned the Texas Department of Transportation that the state could lose up to 10 percent of its federal highway funding if the network is put under control of the Texas Department of Public Safety, as the bill states.
The bill, along with a nearly identical Texas Senate companion bill still in committee, calls for creation of an emergency public servicing network using digital billboards. The billboards would be used to display evacuation routes, weather alerts and messages regarding abducted children, missing senior citizens and fugitives from justice.
When the network is not being used for emergency or public safety purposes, they would be allowed to display paid commercial messages. Five percent of the billboard revenues would be divided between the state and local governments.
An April 6 letter from the Texas division of the Federal Highway Administration said putting the network under the oversight of Texas DPS instead of TxDOT means the state could fall into violation of the Highway Beautification Act and thus lose 10 percent of federal highway funding.
“The proposed bills appear to conflict with the current Texas-FHWA agreement and federal law as they do not limit the (network) signs to zoned or unzoned commercial or industrial areas, or comply with size, spacing and lighting limitations,” wrote Marsha Bayer, right-of-way team leader for the Texas division of the Federal Highway Administration.
TxDOT could not ensure compliance with the federal law if the Texas DPS is in charge of network, Bayer added.
TxDOT already operates an electronic messaging system for drivers, Bayer noted on the letter.
The Texas House Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee approved the network bill on April 11 by a vote of five to two, with one member not voting and one absent. The bill is sponsored by state Rep. Sid Miller, R-Stephenville, the committee chairman.
A vote by the full House has not been scheduled.
Texas Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, has heard testimony for the Senate bill as a member of the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee.
“So far I am not impressed with the network,” Wentworth said. The billboards would be used mainly for commercial advertising and could be situated long distances from established emergency evacuation routes, said the senator, whose district includes Interstate 35 between San Antonio and Austin.
Told of the possible partial loss of federal highway funding, Wentworth said, “That would be another nail in the coffin (of the bill), if not the final spike.”
As billboard companies watch the legislative process of the bills, organizations opposing billboards are criticizing the bill, stating additional digital billboards in the state would distract drivers and possibly create safety hazards.
“These bills are not (billboard) industry-sponsored bills,” said Luis de la Torre, president and general manager of the Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc. division in San Antonio. The majority owner of Clear Channel Outdoor is San Antonio-based radio and billboard giant CC Media Holdings Inc.
Clear Channel Outdoor traditionally has worked directly with cities for digital billboard permits. “It is not our practice to circumvent the city,” De la Torre said of the proposed legislation.
Clear Channel Outdoor and Louisiana-based Lamar Advertising Co. have city permits to operate digital billboards in San Antonio, granted during a trial period that ended in 2008. No new permits have been issued since the test program ended.
Scenic San Antonio member and ex-chairwoman June Kachtik said her organization is fighting the legislation because a state law would supersede the city’s ability to control digital billboards.
“The state already has spent a lot of money on a messaging system,” Kachtik said. She called the billboards “digital blight” and said they are distracting to drivers.
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