Billboard bill advances in Florida Legislature without clause... | www.mypalmbeachpost.com

It's a little unclear about the scope of this bill. It reads as though this would apply only to South Florida Water Management land, but other provisions are quite sweeping. Luckily, the bill is having a hard time gaining traction in the house. This is part of a sneaky bill from 2012 that gave wholesale access to the same sorts of land for "public information systems." Click title for link to the article.

The 56-page bill proposes numerous changes to various duties of the Department of Transportation, including the regulation of billboards, leasing land for wireless communication towers on property owned by the department and extending a pilot program that allows the Palm Beach County School District to display ads of corporate sponsors on school property in unincorporated areas.

Among the changes to billboard regulations, the bill would reduce the distance between billboards on certain roadways and allow billboards that would be blocked by the construction of sound walls to be elevated or moved.

The Florida League of Cities — which wants power restored to local governments — was “blind-sided” by “eleventh hour” changes made in 2012, said Ryan Padgett, spokesman for the league, which represents more than 400 cities, towns and villages.

Billboards on any other type of property are subject not only to federal and state regulations, but also local ordinances, Padgett told the Transportation Committee.