Victory in Montgomery on SB 197

I'm in Montgomery today, just finished with a public hearing on SB 197 in the House State Government committee. The committee decided to hold the bill so we could all get together and "work it out." The motion was made by Rep. Merika Coleman - thank you! This effectively kills the bill - there's not enough time left in the session now. Rep. Oliver Robinson, the chairman of the committee, was very helpful and supportive, as was Rep. Rusty Glover from Semmes. A couple of committee members voted against holding the bill over, but I did not catch who they were. I'll post a complete report when I get the committee report.

See my previous post for background on the bill itself.

Sen. Erwin spoke at today's meeting and the way I understood him, he did in fact intend for a billboard company to be able to rebuild a destroyed board even if local ordinances said they couldn't. He said that his intention was that if it met local requirements it could be rebuilt, but I believe he meant size restrictions,etc. Even though he wanted to "help" so-called mom and pop companies, the effect would have been for Lamar and the big dogs to be able to continue to defy local laws.

This is exactly why we opposed the bill. Most cities, especially in tourism-dependent areas like Baldwin County, are trying to prevent or limit billboards. We did not need a law that overrode what the cities are trying to do.

We have to be continuously vigilant - these billboard corporations are determined to do whatever they want, wherever they want, regardless of community standards. We'll keep up the fight - thank you to everyone who emailed the legislature and who is supporting our efforts!