HB 259 Summary

• Amends utility relocation expense provisions by reducing exceptions from 8 to 7 categories and allowing the department to pay city or county-owned utility work costs in rural areas of critical economic concern when the utility cannot afford the work within 10 years.

• Reorganizes sign permit exemptions in section 479.16 by converting subsection (2) into a numbered list format and clarifying that exemptions for signs on benches, transit shelters, and waste receptacles apply to all provisions of the chapter.

• Reduces maximum sizes for certain exempt signs from 16 to 8 square feet, including owner/occupant name signs and signs for civic/charitable organizations.

• Adds new exemptions for tourist-oriented directional signs in rural areas of critical economic concern (8 square feet maximum, within 2 miles of business, at least 500 feet apart) and for acknowledgement signs and sports facility displays on public properties.

• Prohibits tourist-oriented directional signs on roads in urban areas or at interchanges on freeways or expressways, with procedures for removal and cost assessment if federal funding is affected.

• Effective date: July 1, 2014.