HB1589

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the amount of temporary political signage left up following elections in the State can be a source of visual blight and potentially environmentally degrading litter. At worst, these signs can create a visual obstacle that jeopardizes traffic safety.

The purpose of this Act is to establish a permitting requirement for the erection, display, and maintenance of temporary campaign signage that will help keep track of the number of signs erected and also encourage people to remove their signs in a timely manner following an election. This requirement is intended to protect the health, safety, and welfare of people within the State by encouraging political expression while promoting traffic safety, avoiding an environment that causes visual blight, and reducing litter and environmental damage. It is not the purpose of this Act to regulate or control the copy, content, or viewpoint of political campaign signs.

SECTION 2. Chapter 11, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§11- Campaign signs and banners; permit required. (a) The purpose and intent of this section is to establish a permitting requirement for the erection, display, and maintenance of temporary campaign signage. This requirement is designed to protect the health, safety, and welfare of persons within the State by encouraging political expression in the design and use of signs and banners while promoting traffic safety, avoiding an environment that causes visual blight, and reducing litter and environmental damage. It is not the purpose of this section to regulate or control the copy, content, or viewpoint of signs. Nor is it the intent of this section to afford greater protection to commercial speech than to noncommercial speech.

(b) No candidate, party, person, or organization shall erect, display, or maintain any temporary sign or banner urging voters to vote in favor of or against a candidate or issue in a primary or general election without first obtaining a permit from the office of elections for each sign or banner to be erected or maintained.

Each sign or banner erected, displayed, or maintained shall bear a sticker as proof of obtaining the required permit. The sticker shall contain the name, address, and telephone number of the permit holder.

(c) No permit application shall be denied on the basis of content, copy, or viewpoint of the candidate, party, person, or organization applying for the permit or for the copy, content, or viewpoint expressed on the sign or banner itself.

(d) A permit issued under this section shall be valid for no more than sixty days prior to the primary or general election in which the person or issue referred to on the sign or banner is to be voted upon, or for more than thirty days following the primary or general election in which the person or issue referred to on the sign or banner is to be voted upon.

(e) The amount charged to an applicant to obtain a permit under this section shall not exceed $ per sign.

(f) Any candidate, party, organization, or person erecting, displaying, or maintaining a sign or banner with an expired or invalid permit, without a valid permit, or without a sticker evidencing the issuance of a valid permit shall be in violation of this section and shall be subject to a fine not to exceed $25 per violation and no more than $5,000 aggregate.

(g) The chief election officer shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter 91 for the purposes of this section."

SECTION 3. Section 445-112, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§445-112 Where and when permitted. No person shall erect, maintain, or use a billboard or display any outdoor advertising device, except as provided in this section:

(1) The display of official notices and signs, posted by order of any court or public office, or posted by any public officer in the performance of a public duty, or posted by any person required to do so by any law or rule having the force of law;

(2) Any outdoor advertising device announcing a meeting or series of meetings is not prohibited by this section if displayed on the premises where the meeting or series of meetings will be or is being held. Meeting, as used in this section, includes all meetings regardless of whether open to the public or conducted for profit and includes but is not limited to sports events, conventions, fairs, rallies, plays, lectures, concerts, motion pictures, dances, and religious services;

(3) Any outdoor advertising device indicating that the building or premises on which it is displayed is the residence, office, or place of business, commercial or otherwise, of any individual, partnership, joint venture, association, club, or corporation, and stating the nature of the business;

(4) Any outdoor advertising device that advertises property or services that may be bought, rented, sold, or otherwise traded in on the premises or in the building on which the outdoor advertising device is displayed;

(5) The offering for sale of merchandise bearing incidental advertising, including books, magazines, and newspapers, in any store, newsstand, vending machine, rack, or other place where such merchandise is regularly sold;

(6) Any outdoor advertising device offering any land, building, or part of a building for sale or rent, if displayed on the property so offered or on the building so offered;

(7) Any outdoor advertising device carried by persons or placed upon vehicles used for the transportation of persons or goods, except as provided under section 445‑112.5, relating to vehicular advertising devices;

(8) Any outdoor advertising device warning the public of dangerous conditions that they may encounter in nearby sections of streets, roads, paths, public places, power lines, gas and water mains, or other public utilities;

(9) Signs serving no commercial purpose that indicate places of natural beauty, or of historical or cultural interest, and that are made according to designs approved by the department of business, economic development, and tourism;

(10) Any outdoor advertising device or billboard erected, placed, or maintained upon a state office building, if erected, placed, or maintained by authority of a state agency, department, or officer for the sole purpose of announcing cultural or educational events within the State[,] and if the design and location thereof has been approved by the department of business, economic development, and tourism;

(11) Signs urging voters to vote for or against any person or issue[,] may be erected, maintained, and used, subject to section 11- , except where contrary to or prohibited by law;

(12) Signs stating that a residence that is offered for sale, lease, or rent is open for inspection at the actual time the sign is displayed and showing the route to the residence; provided that the sign contains no words or designs other than the words "Open House", the address of the residence, the name of the person or agency responsible for the sale, and an arrow or other directional symbol and is removed during such time as the residence is not open for inspection;

(13) The erection, maintenance, and use of billboards if the billboard is used solely for outdoor advertising devices not prohibited by this section;

(14) The continued display and maintenance of outdoor advertising devices actually displayed on July 8, 1965, in accordance with all laws and ordinances immediately theretofore in effect;

(15) The continued maintenance of any billboard actually maintained on July 8, 1965, and the display thereon of the same or new advertising devices, all in accordance with all laws and ordinances in effect immediately prior to July 9, 1965;

(16) Any outdoor advertising device displayed with the authorization of the University of Hawaii on any scoreboard of any stadium owned by the university. An outdoor advertising device displayed under this paragraph shall be on the front of the scoreboard and face the interior of the stadium;

(17) Any temporary outdoor advertising device attached to or supported by the structure of any stadium owned by the University of Hawaii, located within and facing the interior of the stadium, and authorized to be displayed by the university. For the purpose of this paragraph, "temporary" means displayed for a short period before the official start of organized athletic competition, during the organized athletic competition, and for a short period after the official end of the organized athletic competition; and

(18) Any outdoor advertising device displayed with the authorization of the stadium authority on any scoreboard of any stadium operated by the stadium authority. An outdoor advertising device displayed under this paragraph shall be on the front of the scoreboard and face the interior of the stadium."

SECTION 4. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1589
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007
STATE OF HAWAII