City of Houston 2023Legislative Report

Legislative Priorities

Bill Sponsors / Authors:

Shawn Thierry   Rep. Shawn Thierry
  D - Houston

Borris Miles   Sen. Borris Miles
  D - Houston

 

Supporting Documents / Links:

Legislative Priorities GraphicSenate Bill 190 – Bandit Signs

Illegally placed “bandit signs” clutter the public right of way, creating blight, endangering public safety and diminishing the quality of life for residents in Texas communities.

Currently, the maximum civil violation is a seen as a “cost of doing business” by these illegal bandit sign operators. In Houston, the City collects thousands of signs from the right of way, curbs, medians, and light poles each year at a cost of approximately $282,000 annually.

The current low financial penalty of the citations as dictated by state law does not deter most bandit sign offenders.

In written testimony before the House Transportation Committee, Scenic Houston Executive Director Andrea French gave an example:

“One such repeat offender racked  up well over $300,000 in fines in one year – clearly making enough money with these signs to consider 300k simply the cost of doing business. This is not an acceptable way of doing business.”

Senate Bill 190 by Senator Borris Miles proposed to increase the maximum civil penalty of the placement of a sign on a right-of-way public road to $2,500 for a second violation and $5,000 for the third or more violation, as well as assign legal responsibility to persons whose “commercial advertisement is placed on a sign.”

These changes would have reduced the number of signs that plague Texas communities by establishing more effective deterrents.

Senator Miles successfully passed SB 190 from the Senate and the bill was on the General House Calendar during the closing days of session after passing out of the House Transportation Committee but failed to come up before the deadline for Second Readings had passed.