Read first time 01/17/2005.   Referred to Committee on Transportation.

     AN ACT Relating to authorizing the use of signs, banners, or decorations over highways under limited circumstances; and amending RCW 47.36.030 and 47.42.020.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1   RCW 47.36.030 and 2003 c 198 s 3 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) The secretary of transportation shall have the power and it shall be its duty to adopt and designate a uniform state standard for the manufacture, display, erection, and location of all signs, signals, signboards, guideposts, and other traffic devices erected or to be erected upon the state highways of the state of Washington for the purpose of furnishing information to persons traveling upon such state highways regarding traffic regulations, directions, distances, points of danger, and conditions requiring caution, and for the purpose of imposing restrictions upon persons operating vehicles thereon. Such signs shall conform as nearly as practicable to the manual of specifications for the manufacture, display, and erection of uniform traffic control devices for streets and highways and all amendments, corrections, and additions thereto.
     (2) The department of transportation shall prepare plans and specifications of the uniform state standard of traffic devices so adopted and designated, showing the materials, colors, and designs thereof, and shall upon the issuance of any such plans and specifications or revisions thereof and upon request, furnish to the boards of county commissioners and the governing body of any incorporated city or town, a copy thereof. Signs, signals, signboards, guideposts, and other traffic devices erected on county roads shall conform in all respects to the specifications of color, design, and location approved by the secretary. Traffic devices hereafter erected within incorporated cities and towns shall conform to such uniform state standard of traffic devices so far as is practicable. The uniform system must allow local transit authority bus shelters located within the right of way of the state highway system to display and maintain commercial advertisements subject to applicable federal regulations, if any.
     (3) The uniform system adopted by the secretary under this section may allow signs, banners, or decorations over a highway that:
     (a) Are in unincorporated areas;
     (b) Are at least twenty vertical feet above a highway; and
     (c) Do not interfere with or obstruct the view of any traffic control device.
     The department shall adopt rules regulating signs, banners, or decorations installed under this subsection (3).

Sec. 2   RCW 47.42.020 and 1993 c 430 s 10 are each amended to read as follows:
     The definitions set forth in this section apply throughout this chapter.
     (1) "Department" means the Washington state department of transportation.
     (2) "Erect" means to construct, build, raise, assemble, place, affix, attach, create, paint, draw, or in any other way bring into being or establish.
     (3) "Interstate system" means any state highway which is or does become part of the national system of interstate and defense highways as described in section 103(d) of title 23, United States Code.
     (4) "Maintain" means to allow to exist.
     (5) "Person" means this state or any public or private corporation, firm, partnership, association, as well as any individual or individuals.
     (6) "Primary system" means any state highway which is or does become part of the federal-aid primary system as described in section 103(b) of title 23, United States Code.
     (7) "Scenic system" means (a) any state highway within any public park, federal forest area, public beach, public recreation area, or national monument, (b) any state highway or portion thereof outside the boundaries of any incorporated city or town designated by the legislature as a part of the scenic system, or (c) any state highway or portion thereof outside the boundaries of any incorporated city or town designated by the legislature as a part of the scenic and recreational highway system except for the sections of highways specifically excluded in RCW 47.42.025 or located within areas zoned by the governing county for predominantly commercial and industrial uses, and having development visible to the highway, as determined by the department.
     (8) "Sign" means any outdoor sign, display, device, figure, painting, drawing, message, placard, poster, billboard, or other thing that is designed, intended, or used to advertise or inform, any part of the advertising or informative contents of which is visible from any place on the main-traveled way of the interstate system or other state highway. "Sign" does not include a display authorized under RCW 47.36.030(3) promoting a local agency sponsored event that does not include advertising.
     (9) "Commercial and industrial areas" means any area zoned commercial or industrial by a county or municipal code, or if unzoned or zoned for general uses by a county or municipal code, that area occupied by three or more separate and distinct commercial or industrial activities, or any combination thereof, within a space of five hundred feet and the area within five hundred feet of such activities on both sides of the highway. The area shall be measured from the outer edges of the regularly used buildings, parking lots, or storage or processing areas of the commercial or industrial activity and not from the property lines of the parcels upon which the activities are located. Measurements shall be along or parallel to the edge of the main traveled way of the highway. The following shall not be considered commercial or industrial activities:
     (a) Agricultural, forestry, grazing, farming, and related activities, including, but not limited to, wayside fresh produce stands;
     (b) Transient or temporary activities;
     (c) Railroad tracks and minor sidings;
     (d) Signs;
     (e) Activities more than six hundred and sixty feet from the nearest edge of the right of way;
     (f) Activities conducted in a building principally used as a residence.
If any commercial or industrial activity that has been used in defining or delineating an unzoned area ceases to operate for a period of six continuous months, any signs located within the former unzoned area become nonconforming and shall not be maintained by any person.
     (10) "Roadside area information panel or display" means a panel or display located so as not to be readable from the main traveled way, erected in a safety rest area, scenic overlook, or similar roadside area, for providing motorists with information in the specific interest of the traveling public.
     (11) "Temporary agricultural directional sign" means a sign on private property adjacent to state highway right of way to provide directional information to places of business offering for sale seasonal agricultural products on the property where the sale is taking place.