Outdoor advertising displays: permits: new alignments.

Senator Strickland, joined by principal and secondary coauthors, advances a measure that adds a new provision to the Business and Professions Code governing outdoor advertising along highway alignments. The core change prohibits the Department of Transportation from denying or delaying acceptance of a permit application for a new advertising display on a portion of a new interstate or primary highway alignment if that section is open to public vehicular travel within 1,000 feet of the proposed display. The change sits within the Outdoor Advertising Act framework that regulates displays adjacent to such highways, and it shifts the acceptance timing from project completion status toward the real‑time availability of nearby travel, creating a timing constraint rather than altering other permit requirements.

Mechanically, the bill adds a directive that the department shall not deny or delay acceptance of the permit application on the basis that the highway project has not been accepted as complete if the relevant highway segment is open to the public within 1,000 feet of the permit location. The proposal relies on existing regulatory authorities to enforce the broader act and does not specify penalties or new procedures beyond acceptance timing. Fiscal considerations note a required fiscal committee review without an explicit appropriation, suggesting potential administrative implications rather than direct program funding changes. The text leaving definitional questions—how to measure 1,000 feet, what constitutes “open to the use of the public,” and what qualifies as “a portion of a new alignment”—may require regulatory interpretation. Overall, the measure sits within the ongoing regulatory regime for outdoor advertising near highways and could affect permit processing timelines for new displays along open segments, without altering other criteria tied to safety, aesthetics, or environmental compliance.