A bill that would allow billboard companies to clear state-owned roadside trees from in front of their signs passed the House Transportation Committee on Tuesday following impassioned arguments against it from environmental groups.
The bill’s advocates said it would help provide jobs for the advertising industry and businesses that need to advertise. They said that some trees, such as historically designated ones, are still protected, and that the space for clear-cutting would be limited.
The environmental groups say that in some areas where back-to-front billboards are spaced closely together, the roadside could be completely cleared of trees.
Billboard companies are currently allowed to cull some smaller trees but not to clear-cut.
The bill, House Bill 179, applies to trees on state-owned roadside land that are in front of billboards that sit on private land.
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