Requires all outdoor advertising in cities of over 1,000,000 to be licensed by the department of transportation

Summary of provisions

The bill adds a new section 23 to the transportation law to read as follows:

Section 1 defines the terms "city", "maintain" and "sign property" as used in this bill.

Section 2 requires all outdoor advertising companies maintaining a sign property in a city to obtain an outdoor advertising license through the Department of Transportation (DOT). Maintenance of such sign property shall only be authorized during the term of the advertising license issued therefore. No city shall impose any additional licensing requirements for sign properties, and the provisions of this bill shall preempt and supersede any local law, code or ordinance.

Section 3 states that an outdoor advertising license may be issued for a sign property upon the application of the outdoor advertising company submitted to the Department. Such application must be in a form and include information as determined by the Department. In addition, advertising companies shall submit an appropriate annual licensing fee as follows:

For static sign faces:

(i) $3.50 per square foot for a surface area of less than 220 square feet; (ii) $3.75 per square foot for a surface area of 220 to 671 square feet; (iii) $4.00 per square foot for a surface area of 672 to 1,100 square feet; (iv) $4.25 per square foot for a surface area of more than 1,100 square feet;

Or for digital sign faces, $8.50 per square foot of surface area.

An additional fee of $100 for each late application may be charged by the Department for an outdoor advertising license or renewal thereof.

Section 4 provides that, upon receipt of an application and appropriate registration fee, DOT shall mark the application with the date and time the application was received. Determinations to approve or deny an application must be made within 180 days or else the application shall be automatically approved.

Section 5 establishes a $50 fee payable to DOT in the event that an outdoor advertising license has to be replaced.

Section 6 provides that any advertising company that currently utilizes a sign property pursuant to any permits issued by the City Department of Buildings shall be entitled to the issuance of a license through DOT. During the time that DOT reviews an application for a license relating to sign property that is already in existence, the advertising company maintaining such sign shall continue to maintain the property.

Justification

A recent change to New York City law will make it harder for businesses to advertise their products and services on the streets of New York and its arterial highways. The new restrictions affect all public signage in New York City, with exception to Times Square and a small area on West 34th Street. The City's new law calls for 50%-60% of existing billboards to be dismantled while also maintaining current restrictions for temporary ads on sidewalk sheds. Many billboards built after 1979 - including those on the Long Island Expressway - are to be drastically altered or torn down. Those that do remain will have to be reduced in size or required to face in another direction - changes that will inevitably affect who buys space on them and how much revenue they produce.

Representatives of the outdoor advertising industry have pointed out that banning billboards or scaffolding signage will cause a significant financial loss for many different sectors in the economy, including property owners, local businesses (namely graphic artists, painters, and printers, to name a few), advertising agencies and advertisers. Union workers who construct the billboards and help maintain them will also be hard hit.

The total direct revenue loss to the industry (media billing, billboard printing, union installations and takedowns, maintenance, electric, and insurance) is estimated to be $82.6 million per year. The annual residual revenue loss to New York City businesses (advertising agency commissions, production commissions, and private property owners' revenue loss) is an additional $33.3 million, not counting the 1,400-2,200 jobs that will be lost in the next 12 months if Local Law 31 continues to go through.

This bill seeks to address the harmful impact of these new regulations by creating a new fee structure for public signage in the City of New York. The program would be administered by the State Department of Transportation, which already regulates outdoor advertising through its existing sign program for the rest of the State. The fee structure proposed in this bill was recommended by the advertising industry and is expected to generate approximately $15 million in state revenues.

Legislative history

None.

Fiscal implications

The bill is estimated to generate at least $15 million in State revenues.

Effective date

This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall have become law.