S-0027.2

SENATE BILL 5094

BySenator Fortunato

AN ACT Relating to exempting the flag of the United States from regulations regarding signs, banners, or decorations along or near roadways; amending RCW 47.36.030 and 47.24.020; adding a new section to chapter 35.21 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 35A.21 RCW; and adding a new section to chapter 36.01 RCW.

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

Sec. 1. RCW 47.36.030 and 2005 c 398 s 1 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)(a) The uniform system adopted by the secretary under this section may allow signs, banners, or decorations over a highway that:

(((a)))(i) Are in unincorporated areas;

(((b)))(ii) Are at least twenty vertical feet above a highway; and

(((c)))(iii) Do not interfere with or obstruct traffic flow or the view of any traffic control device.

The department shall adopt rules regulating signs, banners, or decorations installed under this subsection (3).

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 35.21 RCW to read as follows:

Any ordinance adopted by a city or town relating to signs, banners, or decorations along or near a roadway does not apply to a flag of the United States as defined in RCW 47.36.030. Any flag of the United States placed along or near any roadway must still comply with RCW 47.36.030(3)(a) (ii) and (iii).

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3. A new section is added to chapter 35A.21 RCW to read as follows:

Any ordinance adopted by a code city relating to signs, banners, or decorations along or near a roadway does not apply to a flag of the United States as defined in RCW 47.36.030. Any flag of the United States placed along or near any roadway must still comply with RCW 47.36.030(3)(a) (ii) and (iii).

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4. A new section is added to chapter 36.01 RCW to read as follows:

Any ordinance adopted by a county relating to signs, banners, or decorations along or near a roadway does not apply to a flag of the United States as defined in RCW 47.36.030. Any flag of the United States placed along or near any roadway must still comply with RCW 47.36.030(3)(a) (ii) and (iii).

Sec. 5. RCW 47.24.020 and 2018 c 100 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

The jurisdiction, control, and duty of the state and city or town with respect to such streets is as follows:

(1) The department has no authority to change or establish any grade of any such street without approval of the governing body of such city or town, except with respect to limited access facilities established by the commission;

(2) The city or town shall exercise full responsibility for and control over any such street beyond the curbs and if no curb is installed, beyond that portion of the highway used for highway purposes. However, within incorporated cities and towns the title to a state limited access highway vests in the state, and, notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the department shall exercise full jurisdiction, responsibility, and control to and over such facility as provided in chapter 47.52 RCW;

(3) Except as provided in RCW 47.36.030, the department has authority to prohibit the suspension of signs, banners, or decorations above the portion of such street between the curbs or portion used for highway purposes up to a vertical height of twenty feet above the surface of the roadway;

(4) The city or town shall at its own expense maintain all underground facilities in such streets, and has the right to construct such additional underground facilities as may be necessary in such streets. However, pavement trenching and restoration performed as part of installation of such facilities must meet or exceed requirements established by the department;

(5) The city or town has the right to grant the privilege to open the surface of any such street, but all damage occasioned thereby shall promptly be repaired either by the city or town itself or at its direction. Pavement trenching and restoration performed under a privilege granted by the city under this subsection must meet or exceed requirements established by the department;

(6) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (17) of this section, the city or town at its own expense shall provide street illumination and shall clean all such streets, including storm sewer inlets and catch basins, and remove all snow, except that the state shall when necessary plow the snow on the roadway. In cities and towns having a population of twenty-seven thousand five hundred or less according to the latest determination of population by the office of financial management, the state, when necessary for public safety, shall assume, at its expense, responsibility for the stability of the slopes of cuts and fills and the embankments within the right-of-way to protect the roadway itself. When the population of a city or town first exceeds twenty-seven thousand five hundred according to the determination of population by the office of financial management, the city or town shall have three years from the date of the determination to plan for additional staffing, budgetary, and equipment requirements before being required to assume the responsibilities under this subsection. The state shall install, maintain, and operate all illuminating facilities on any limited access facility, together with its interchanges, located within the corporate limits of any city or town, and shall assume and pay the costs of all such installation, maintenance, and operation incurred after November 1, 1954;

(7) The department has the right to use all storm sewers on such highways without cost; and if new storm sewer facilities are necessary in construction of new streets by the department, the cost of the facilities shall be borne by the state and/or city as may be mutually agreed upon between the department and the governing body of the city or town;

(8) Cities and towns have exclusive right to grant franchises not in conflict with state laws and rules, over, beneath, and upon such streets, but the department is authorized to enforce in an action brought in the name of the state any condition of any franchise which a city or town has granted on such street. No franchise for transportation of passengers in motor vehicles may be granted on such streets without the approval of the department, but the department shall not refuse to approve such franchise unless another street conveniently located and of strength of construction to sustain travel of such vehicles is accessible;

(9) Every franchise or permit granted any person by a city or town for use of any portion of such street by a public utility must require the grantee or permittee to restore, repair, and replace any portion of the street damaged or injured by it to conditions that meet or exceed requirements established by the department;

(10) The city or town has the right to issue overload or overwidth permits for vehicles to operate on such streets or roads subject to regulations printed and distributed to the cities and towns by the department;

(11) Cities and towns shall regulate and enforce all traffic and parking restrictions on such streets, but all regulations adopted by a city or town relating to speed, parking, and traffic control devices on such streets not identical to state law relating thereto are subject to the approval of the department before becoming effective. All regulations pertaining to speed, parking, and traffic control devices relating to such streets heretofore adopted by a city or town not identical with state laws shall become null and void unless approved by the department heretofore or within one year after March 21, 1963;

(12) The department shall erect, control, and maintain at state expense all route markers and directional signs, except street signs, on such streets;

(13) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (17) of this section, the department shall install, operate, maintain, and control at state expense all traffic control signals, signs, and traffic control devices for the purpose of regulating both pedestrian and motor vehicular traffic on, entering upon, or leaving state highways in cities and towns having a population of twenty-seven thousand five hundred or less according to the latest determination of population by the office of financial management. Such cities and towns may submit to the department a plan for traffic control signals, signs, and traffic control devices desired by them, indicating the location, nature of installation, or type thereof, or a proposed amendment to such an existing plan or installation, and the department shall consult with the cities or towns concerning the plan before installing such signals, signs, or devices. Cities and towns having a population in excess of twenty-seven thousand five hundred according to the latest determination of population by the office of financial management shall install, maintain, operate, and control such signals, signs, and devices at their own expense, subject to approval of the department for the installation and type only. When the population of a city or town first exceeds twenty-seven thousand five hundred according to the determination of population by the office of financial management, the city or town shall have three years from the date of the determination to plan for additional staffing, budgetary, and equipment requirements before being required to assume the responsibilities under this subsection. For the purpose of this subsection, striping, lane marking, and channelization are considered traffic control devices;

(14) All revenue from parking meters placed on such streets belongs to the city or town;

(15) Rights-of-way for such streets shall be acquired by either the city or town or by the state as shall be mutually agreed upon. Costs of acquiring rights-of-way may be at the sole expense of the state or at the expense of the city or town or at the expense of the state and the city or town as may be mutually agreed upon. Title to all such rights-of-way so acquired shall vest in the city or town: PROVIDED, That no vacation, sale, rental, or any other nontransportation use of any unused portion of any such street may be made by the city or town without the prior written approval of the department; and all revenue derived from sale, vacation, rental, or any nontransportation use of such rights-of-way shall be shared by the city or town and the state in the same proportion as the purchase costs were shared;

(16) If any city or town fails to perform any of its obligations as set forth in this section or in any cooperative agreement entered into with the department for the maintenance of a city or town street forming part of the route of a state highway, the department may notify the mayor of the city or town to perform the necessary maintenance within thirty days. If the city or town within the thirty days fails to perform the maintenance or fails to authorize the department to perform the maintenance as provided by RCW 47.24.050, the department may perform the maintenance, the cost of which is to be deducted from any sums in the motor vehicle fund credited or to be credited to the city or town;

(17) The population thresholds identified in subsections (6) and (13) of this section shall be increased as follows:

(a) Thirty thousand on July 1, 2023;

(b) Thirty-two thousand five hundred on July 1, 2028; and

(c) Thirty-five thousand on July 1, 2033.

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