In the decades-long battle between trees and billboards, the Georgia House of Representatives on Thursday for the first time sided with the signs.
The struggle between nature and commerce -- so divisive it pit Vince Dooley against Herschel Walker -- came down to the green cash to be made by the billboard industry winning out over the green landscapes along state highways. The legislation, House Bill 179, passed 98-68, with many lawmakers crossing party lines to cast their votes.
“These signs direct people to restaurants and small businesses, affecting we believe 10,000 businesses and some 300,000 jobs directly or indirectly," said the bill's sponsor, Rep. Jon Burns, R-Newington.
The measure would allow billboard owners to clear-cut state-owned trees from in front of their signs for better viewing by motorists. An amendment to the measure, which appeared critical to the victory, would increase the application and renewal fees to cover the $840,000 annual cost of the state highway sign program.
It is now headed to the state Senate, which has come down on the side of signs in the past.
Opponents, a collection of environmentally minded Democrats and fiscal conservatives, argued that the bill was a giveaway of valuable state easements and would scar the state's scenic beauty.
Critics don’t buy the argument that the measure will create jobs or boost tourism, noting that all billboards are banned in such heavily visited states as Hawaii and Maine.
“I promote Georgia, and I promote jobs,” said Rep. Calvin Smyre, D-Columbus. “This does neither. If this was a jobs bill, you’d be hearing from people back home, and I haven’t heard from anyone who wants this.”
About 88 percent of the billboard industry in the state -- including owners, builders and painters -- lobbied hard for it, though.
The Outdoor Advertising Association of Georgia, which represents most of the industry, has been trying since at least the 1990s to change the current system it says hurts business by letting older trees grow and obscure signs.
Under current law, owners can only take down hardwoods with trunks less than 8 inches in diameter and pines under 12 inches in diameter on the state-owned land between the road and private property that hosts the sign.
“Existing billboards are being grown out of business,” said Conner Poe, executive director of the outdoor advertising group. “It’s just not working.”
Warriors this year in the battle included more than the traditional lobbyists in their dark suits, usually men, and green-jacketed garden club members, mostly women.
Dooley, the former University of Georgia football coach, and his greatest player, Walker, made phone calls against and for the measure, respectively.
Also helping the billboard industry was the lobbying firm GeorgiaLink, which this year hired as an intern Matt Ralston, the son of House Speaker David Ralston. The speaker did not vote Thursday, though he had opposed similar bills in the past. GeorgiaLink said the younger Ralston does no lobbying.
The battle also drew some unusual arguments during more than two hours of debate Thursday. Rep. Tom McCall, R-Elberton, cited accident statistics involving trees when invoking his support.
“Trees are probably the most dangerous thing on the side of the road when a car does leave the road,” McCall said.
Opponents, too, made colorful arguments for their points. Rep. Richard Smith, R-Columbus, called out supporters by noting that the proposal doesn’t come up in election years because it doesn’t have strong community support.
“If your child and grandchildren want to read more signs -- ‘We Bare All' -- then vote yes,” Smith said.
Jill Johnson, a lobbyist with Trees Columbus, said opponents will lobby hard against the bill in the state Senate and in the office of Gov. Nathan Deal who could soon see it on his desk.
“We believe this is a special-interest giveaway of state assets," she said, "and we will continue to make that case in making sure this never becomes law.”
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