Issue 02-06
January 20, 2006

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Posted on Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Senate should reject special favor for billboards

THE BILLBOARD industry is always showering legislators with lavish campaign donations, so imagine how embarrassing it was when Christmas came and went, and senators hadn’t gotten the industry a thing.

They’re trying very hard to make up for their gaffe this week, with a bill that would make it nearly impossible for local communities to spruce themselves up and make driving safer by removing unsightly and distracting billboards.

It is a bad bill, which cannot be defended. Consider:

• Billboard owners pay property taxes based on what the billboard cost them minus depreciation; in other words, the taxable value of billboards decreases every year. But if cities and counties wanted to remove a billboard, they would have to pay not only the cost of the billboard, but also what billboard owners would lose by not being able to rent out their space, possibly for as much as 20 years. City officials say that could run the cost of removing a single billboard as high as $400,000.

• When the state removes a billboard to make way for highway construction, it only pays the owners based on the cost of the billboard itself. That wouldn’t change, because this bill creates a double standard by specifically exempting the state Transportation Department.

• Even if communities needed to remove a billboard to make way for road, street or sidewalk construction, they would have to pay more than the state does — not just the cost of the billboard, but also up to 30 days’ lost revenue while the billboard is relocated. (We’re sure business owners on Main Street in Columbia would love for the Legislature to pass a similar provision requiring the city to reimburse them for revenue lost during streetscaping.)

To put the law into perspective, imagine that cities and counties were required to pay the lost anticipated revenue of sex clubs, mobile home parks and junkyards when they zone them out of existence.

Actually, the idea of paying off billboard owners is even worse, since the worth of billboards is determined entirely by their proximity to the government-built and government-maintained roads.

Of course, no one argues that communities should be able to remove billboards without any compensation. Under the current law, cities and counties that adopt ordinances restricting where billboards can be placed have to allow existing billboards to stay up long enough for the owners to recoup their costs, and make a profit. Even that standard is costly enough that most communities that restrict billboards — ours included — grandfather in existing billboards.

This bill, which the House already has passed, goes well beyond the normal hostility that lawmakers display toward local governments. The payments are so over the top that they would be intolerable even if they were applied equally to the Transportation Department. And yet the politically powerful billboard industry has so many friends in the Legislature that local governments are reduced to merely complaining that the law would apply to cities and counties that already have put billboard ordinances in place.

A retroactive law can rarely be justified, and certainly this one can’t be. This law couldn’t be justified even if it didn’t bother communities that have already taken steps to improve their appearance. Senators should reject it.

Newly-Introduced Legislation

H. 4426 - Provides that when an entity exempt from property taxes as a nonprofit corporation funded by federal or state loans or as a religious, charitable, eleemosynary, educational, or literacy organization leases property owned by it to a similarly property tax exempt organization, the leased portion is exempt from property tax.

H. 4428 - Permits state franchising of cable television.

H. 4432 - Permits a resident of another state to receive the homestead exemption after 5 years of continuous and recurring presence in this state.

H. 4433 - Waives the payment of employee contributions to the state and police retirement systems for participants who were in covered employment with the state during the base period.

H. 4438 - Requires that a person must be released from custody within one hour of posting bond with the clerk of court or other appropriate official.

H. 4443 - More fully defines “agricultural real property” and includes the requirement that the agricultural use of the property be a commercial use and provides for evidence of commercial use.

H. 4444 - Constitutional amendment requiring that an undeveloped tract of land containing at least 25 acres and not classified as agricultural real property be taxed at 2 % of its fair market value.

H. 4445 - Increases fine for child restraint violations from $25 to $200.

H. 4446 - Permits a 10 year moratorium on state corporate income taxes to a taxpayer who makes at least 90% of total investment in this state or creates 100 new jobs and invest at least $150 million in a manufacturing facility in a distressed county.

H. 4449 - The House Property Tax Reform bill.

H. 4450 - Constitutional amendment defining fair market value for property tax purposes.

H. 4471 - Provides that in a commercial lease relationship the magistrate will retain jurisdiction over an ejectment action and corresponding compulsory counterclaims, regardless of the amount of the counterclaim.

H. 4473 - Provides that when an order of protection is issued, the clerk of court must provide the applicant with an informational sheet that explains the applicant’s right to apply for a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

H. 4478 - Provides that the limitations of the Torts Claim Act do not apply if the tort committed by an employee of a governmental entity is found to be arbitrary or capricious.


 

SENATE BILLS

S. 1044 - Permits a county treasurer to accept a lesser amount than an original tax bill together with any applicable penalties, costs and charges whenever a bankruptcy proceeding authorizes a lesser amount to be paid, also permits a county auditor to negotiate taxes as a result of a bankruptcy.

S. 1045 - Reduces the marriage license fee for couples who complete a qualifying premarital preparation course.

S. 1050 - Enacts the Family Court Reform Act of 2006, requires all child support and alimony payments be made to the clerk of court unless the payor demonstrates that he will not default on the obligation.

S. 1053 - Permits state franchising of cable television.

S. 1056 - Requires the General Assembly to appropriate funds annually for grants that must be awarded to certain volunteer and combination fire departments.

S. 1065 - Defines “business records” for the purpose of assessing property taxes on a marina.

S. 1066 - Provides for a millage rate limitation and rollback millage calculation change.

Visual Pollution (Billboards) - H. 3381
(January 18, 2006)
Motion to Cut Off Debate (Cloture) - H. 3381
A “No” vote is in support of the local government position on this particular vote.

Ayes 24; Nays 7
AYES
Alexander Bryant Campsen
Cleary Courson Cromer
Elliott Fair Gregory
Grooms Hawkins Hayes
Martin McConnell McGill
Mescher O'Dell Peeler
Rankin Ritchie Ryberg
Scott Thomas Verdin
Total--24
NAYS (Supported the local government position)
Anderson Leventis Lourie
Malloy Reese Sheheen
Williams
Total--7
Having received the necessary vote of 24, the motion was adopted.