Bill Text: NC S315 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Chaptered

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Bill Title: Roadside Campaign Signs

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 11-2)

Status: (Passed) 2011-08-04 - Ch. SL 2011-408 [S315 Detail]

Download: North_Carolina-2011-S315-Chaptered.html

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GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2011

 

 

SESSION LAW 2011-408

SENATE BILL 315

 

 

AN ACT to permit campaign signs in highway rights‑of‑way with reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

SECTION 1.  G.S. 136‑32 reads as rewritten:

"§ 136‑32.  Other than official signs prohibited.Regulation of signs.

(a)        Commercial Signs. – No unauthorized person shall erect or maintain upon any highway any warning or direction sign, marker, signal or light or imitation of any official sign, marker, signal or light erected under the provisions of G.S. 136‑30, except in cases of emergency. No person shall erect or maintain upon any highway any traffic or highway sign or signal bearing thereon any commercial advertising: or political advertising, except as provided in subsections (b) through (e) of this section: Provided, nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the erection or maintenance of signs, markers, or signals bearing thereon the name of an organization authorized to erect the same by the Department of Transportation or by any local authority referred to in G.S. 136‑31. Any person who shall violate any of the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. The Department of Transportation may remove any signs erected without authority. authority or allowed to remain beyond the deadline established in subsection (b) of this section.

(b)        Compliant Political Signs Permitted. – During the period beginning on the 30^th day before the beginning date of "one­stop" early voting under G.S. 163‑227.2 and ending on the 10^th day after the primary or election day, persons may place political signs in the right‑of‑way of the State highway system as provided in this section. Signs must be placed in compliance with subsection (d) of this section and must be removed by the end of the period prescribed in this subsection.

(c)        Definition. – For purposes of this section, "political sign" means any sign that advocates for political action. The term does not include a commercial sign.

(d)        Sign Placement. – The permittee must obtain the permission of any property owner of a residence, business, or religious institution fronting the right‑of‑way where a sign would be erected. Signs must be placed in accordance with the following:

(1)        No sign shall be permitted in the right‑of‑way of a fully controlled access highway.

(2)        No sign shall be closer than three feet from the edge of the pavement of the road.

(3)        No sign shall obscure motorist visibility at an intersection.

(4)        No sign shall be higher than 42 inches above the edge of the pavement of the road.

(5)        No sign shall be larger than 864 square inches.

(6)        No sign shall obscure or replace another sign.

(e)        Penalties for Unlawful Removal of Signs. – It is a Class 3 misdemeanor for a person to steal, deface, vandalize, or unlawfully remove a political sign that is lawfully placed under this section.

(f)         Application Within Municipalities. – Pursuant to Article 8 of Chapter 160A of the General Statutes, a city may by ordinance prohibit or regulate the placement of political signs on rights‑of‑way of streets located within the corporate limits of a municipality and maintained by the municipality. In the absence of an ordinance prohibiting or regulating the placement of political signs on the rights‑of‑way of streets located within a municipality and maintained by the municipality, the provisions of subsections (b) through (e) of this section shall apply."

SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective October 1, 2011, and applies to any primary or election held on or after that date.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 28^th day of July, 2011.

 

 

                                                                    s/  Walter H. Dalton

                                                                         President of the Senate

 

 

                                                                    s/  Thom Tillis

                                                                         Speaker of the House of Representatives

 

 

                                                                    s/  Beverly E. Perdue

                                                                         Governor

 

 

Approved 10:00 a.m. this 4^th day of August, 2011