READ FIRST TIME 02/27/13.   

     AN ACT Relating to outdoor advertising sign fees, labels, and prohibitions; amending RCW 47.42.120, 47.42.080, and 47.42.130; repealing RCW 47.42.048; and prescribing penalties.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 47.42.120 and 2010 c 138 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
     Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, no sign except a sign of type 1 or 2 or those type 3 signs that advertise activities conducted upon the properties where the signs are located, may be erected or maintained without a permit issued by the department. Application for a permit shall be made to the department on forms furnished by it. The forms shall contain a statement that the owner or lessee of the land in question has consented thereto. For type 8 signs (temporary agricultural directional signs), when the land in question is owned by the department, the consent statement must be reviewed and, if the sign does not create a safety concern, be approved within ten days of application by the department. The application shall be accompanied by a fee established by department rule to be deposited with the state treasurer to the credit of the motor vehicle fund. Permits shall be for the remainder of the calendar year in which they are issued, and accompanying fees shall not be prorated for fractions of the year. Permits must be renewed annually through a certification process established by department rule. Advertising copy may be changed at any time without the payment of an additional fee. Assignment of permits in good standing is effective only upon receipt of written notice of assignment by the department. A permit may be revoked after hearing if the department finds that any statement made in the application or annual certification process was false or misleading, or that the sign covered is not in good general condition and in a reasonable state of repair, or is otherwise in violation of this chapter, if the false or misleading information has not been corrected and the sign has not been brought into compliance with this chapter or rules adopted under it within thirty days after written notification. Beginning July 1, 2014, the department shall establish and charge by rule an annual fee for type 4 and 5 sign permits. The fee must reasonably recover costs for outdoor advertising control program administration and enforcement and may not exceed one hundred fifty dollars. The department shall establish by rule exemptions from payment of the annual fee for type 4 and 5 signs that do not generate rental income.

Sec. 2   RCW 47.42.080 and 2010 c 8 s 10016 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Any sign erected or maintained contrary to the provisions of this chapter or rules adopted hereunder that is designed to be viewed from the interstate system, the primary system, or the scenic system is a public nuisance, and the department, the chief of the Washington state patrol, the county sheriff, or the chief of police of any city or town shall notify the permittee or, if there is no permittee, the owner of the property on which the sign is located, by certified mail at his or her last known address, that it constitutes a public nuisance and must comply with the chapter or be removed.
     (2) If the permittee or owner, as the case may be, fails to comply with the chapter or remove any such sign within fifteen days after being notified to remove the sign he or she is guilty of a misdemeanor. In addition to the penalties imposed by law upon conviction, an order may be entered compelling removal of the sign. Each day the sign is maintained constitutes a separate offense.
     (3) If the permittee or owner, as the case may be, fails to comply with this chapter or rules adopted under this chapter or fails to remove any sign erected or maintained contrary to the provisions of this chapter or rules adopted under this chapter within fifteen days after being notified to remove the sign, the department shall assess a fine of one hundred dollars per calendar day until the sign is brought into compliance or is removed. The one hundred dollar per calendar day fine is not contingent on a misdemeanor conviction. Fines collected under this subsection must be deposited with the state treasurer to the credit of the motor vehicle fund.
     (4) If the permittee or the owner of the property upon which it is located, as the case may be, is not found or refuses receipt of the notice, the department, the chief of the Washington state patrol, the county sheriff, or the chief of police of any city or town shall post the sign and property upon which it is located with a notice that the sign constitutes a public nuisance and must be removed. If the sign is not removed within fifteen days after such posting, the department, the chief of the Washington state patrol, the county sheriff, or the chief of police of any city or town shall abate the nuisance and destroy the sign, and for that purpose may enter upon private property without incurring liability for doing so.
     (((4))) (5) Nothing in this section may be construed to affect the provisions contained in RCW 47.42.102 requiring the payment of compensation upon the removal of any signs compensable under state law.
     (((5))) (6) Any sign erected or maintained on state highway right-of-way contrary to this chapter or rules adopted under it is a public nuisance, and the department is authorized to remove any such sign without notice.

Sec. 3   RCW 47.42.130 and 1999 c 276 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
     Every permit issued by the department shall be assigned a separate identification number, and each permittee shall fasten to each sign a weatherproof label, not larger than ((sixteen)) twenty-eight square inches, that shall be furnished by the department and on which shall be plainly visible the permit number. The permittee shall also place his or her name in a conspicuous position on the front or back of each sign. The failure of a sign to have such a label affixed to it is prima facie evidence that it is not in compliance with the provisions of this chapter.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   RCW 47.42.048 (State and local prohibitions) and 1974 ex.s. c 80 s 3 are each repealed.