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92–598 PDF 2003

TRAVERSING THE TWISTS AND IMPACTS OF THE

HIGHWAY BEAUTIFICATION ACT UPON SMALL

BUSINESSES

HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON RURAL ENTERPRISE, 

AGRICULTURE, & TECHNOLOGY

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

WASHINGTON, DC, MAY 15, 2003

Serial No. 108–16

Printed for the use of the Committee on Small Business

(

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/house

COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS 

DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois, Chairman 

ROSCOE BARTLETT, Maryland, Vice 

Chairman 

SUE KELLY, New York 

STEVE CHABOT, Ohio 

PATRICK J. TOOMEY, Pennsylvania 

JIM DEMINT, South Carolina 

SAM GRAVES, Missouri 

EDWARD SCHROCK, Virginia 

TODD AKIN, Missouri 

SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia 

BILL SHUSTER, Pennsylvania 

MARILYN MUSGRAVE, Colorado 

TRENT FRANKS, Arizona 

JIM GERLACH, Pennsylvania 

JEB BRADLEY, New Hampshire 

BOB BEAUPREZ, Colorado 

CHRIS CHOCOLA, Indiana 

STEVE KING, Iowa 

THADDEUS MCCOTTER, Michigan 

NYDIA VELA ́ ZQUEZ, New York 

JUANITA MILLENDER-MCDONALD, 

California 

TOM UDALL, New Mexico 

FRANK BALLANCE, North Carolina 

DONNA CHRISTENSEN, Virgin Islands 

DANNY DAVIS, Illinois 

CHARLES GONZALEZ, Texas 

GRACE NAPOLITANO, California 

ANI ́BAL ACEVEDO-VILA ́ , Puerto Rico 

ED CASE, Hawaii 

MADELEINE BORDALLO, Guam 

DENISE MAJETTE, Georgia 

JIM MARSHALL, Georgia 

MICHAEL MICHAUD, Maine 

LINDA SA ́ NCHEZ, California 

ENI FALEOMAVAEGA, American Samoa 

BRAD MILLER, North Carolina 

J. MATTHEW SZYMANSKI, Chief of Staff and Chief Counsel 

PHIL ESKELAND, Policy Director 

MICHAEL DAY, Minority Staff Director

(II) 

C O N T E N T S 

WITNESSES

Page 

Kothe, Sarah, House of Os Bed & Breakfast ........................................................ 5

Taylor, Professor Charles R., Villanova University .............................................. 7

Byrnes, Chris, Defenders of Property Rights ........................................................ 8

Gorin, John P., National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds ................ 10

Eck, John P., National Association of Truck Stop Owners .................................. 12

Martin, Joe, American Hotel and Lodging Association ........................................ 13

Maguire, Meg, Scenic America ............................................................................... 15

APPENDIX

Opening statements: 

Graves, Hon. Sam ............................................................................................. 23

Prepared statements: 

Kothe, Sarah ..................................................................................................... 26

Taylor, Professor Charles R. ............................................................................ 30

Defenders of Property Rights .......................................................................... 35

Gorin, John P. ................................................................................................... 44

Eck, John P. ...................................................................................................... 47

Martin, Joe ........................................................................................................ 51

Maguire, Meg .................................................................................................... 55

Huber, Karen .................................................................................................... 71

Frantzis, John ................................................................................................... 73

(III) 

(1)

HEARING ON TRAVERSING THE TWISTS AND 

IMPACTS OF THE HIGHWAY BEAUTIFICATION ACT UPON SMALL BUSINESSES 

THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2003

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON RURAL ENTERPRISES, AGRICULTURE

AND TECHNOLOGY, 

COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS

Washington, D.C. 

The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 12:59 p.m. in Room 

2360, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Sam Graves [chairman 

of the Subcommittee] presiding. 

Present: Representatives Graves, Ballance. 

Chairman GRAVES. I think we will go ahead and get started. The 

Ranking Member, Mr. Ballance, had to go to the Floor for a few 

minutes. He should be back very shortly and join us. 

I do want to say good afternoon, and welcome to the Rural Enterprises, Agriculture and Technology Subcommittee on the Small 

Business Committee. We are going to, in the interest of time, try 

to keep everybody’s testimony to five minutes. 

We do have a vote scheduled for 2:00. Depending on whether or 

not that is hit or not, when that vote hits we will probably lose everybody or most everybody in the room, so we are going to try to 

get through all the testimony first because that is the most important thing is to have testimony on record, and then we will see 

about questions. Hopefully we will be able to get to those, too, but 

we do want to get through all of the testimony, so we are going to 

try to keep everybody to the five minutes. 

I might explain the lights down there and how they work. You 

will have a green, and then it will go to yellow when you have one 

minute left, and then it will show red when time is up. 

I will go ahead and give my opening statement, and then we will 

see if Mr. Ballance is able to be here before I am finished. 

Today we are discussing the impact of the Highway Beautification Act, or HBA, on small businesses across America. When 

President Lyndon Johnson signed the Highway Beautification Act 

of 1965, he did so with the intent to insure effective control of billboards along our highways. The bill controls outdoor advertising 

along interstate and federally-aided primary highways. 

While the legislation allows for billboards in commercial and industrial zones, it mandates a state compliance program that includes the development of state standards and promotes the removal of illegal signs. The law failed to take into account its effect 

2

on small business, particularly in rural areas that rely heavily on 

billboard advertising. These federal burdens are extremely anti 

small business. 

Seventy to 80 percent of billboard advertising is utilized by local 

business, and the majority of this is small business. In rural areas 

such as in my district or large parts of my congressional district, 

local business utilization jumps to 90 percent. Two-thirds of billboard advertising in rural areas is for the travel and tourism industry. 

In the rural areas, billboard advertisement is the most effective 

and cost efficient means of advertising. Since 80 percent of all travel in the United States is by car, newspaper, radio and TV ads do 

not capture passing travelers. Billboard advertisements are the 

only medium that targets that market. 

Numerous studies all point to the same conclusion. Billboard advertising significantly contributes to those businesses that utilize 

or are allowed to utilize advertising. Commercially, businesses that 

have lost signs lose business. 

Bob Evans Restaurant did their own experiment on billboard advertising. They covered up several of their billboards along interstates to measure the advertising effectiveness. The impacted restaurants reported a 10 percent loss of sales during the time that 

the billboards were out of sight. 

Studies show that an estimated 82.2 of small businesses would 

lose sales if they did not have access to billboard advertisement. In 

rural America, outdoor advertising serves a variety of functions for 

small business owners. Billboards allow small businesses to give directions to their place of business, information on the products and 

service that their business offers and the price of their products 

and services. 

However, small businesses do not have the funds to spend on extensive advertising. Therefore, they rely on billboards indicating to 

the passer by the location of their business. The outdoor advertising provides convenient information to consumers who use the 

directions and the critical product identification for the businesses 

who benefit from increased commercial activity. 

The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991—

it was called IST—amended the Highway Beautification Act of 

1965 to prohibit billboards placed on designated scenic byways that 

are part of the interstate or primary highway system. In addition, 

IST and the subsequent HBA amendments directed additional federal funds towards billboard removal and control. 

I fear that broad federal regulations have severely restricted 

small businesses’ ability to remain competitive. Simply put, small 

business in rural communities that thrive on the patronage of their 

community and those outside their city limits cannot survive under 

current laws governing outdoor advertising. 

I would like to recognize—well, he is not going to be here; he 

should be here shortly—Mr. Ballance. 

This is also an issue that I have dealt with extensively in my 

time in the state senate too on the Transportation Committee, and 

I look forward to this particular angle from the small business perspective. 

3

We will go ahead and jump right into statements from our witnesses. I do want thank you all for being here. I know some of you 

have come a long way to be here today. 

Before we get started, I do want to ask unanimous consent to include statements from all the Members in the record. I think we 

have that. 

[Mr. Graves’ statement may be found in the appendix.] 

Chairman GRAVES. Here is Mr. Ballance. You are just in time. 

I will go ahead. Would you like to give an opening statement? 

Mr. BALLANCE. Yes, I would. 

Chairman GRAVES. Okay. I just finished with mine. If you want 

to go ahead and go through yours, that would be fine. I asked for 

unanimous consent, too, to make sure all the Members’ statements 

are recorded in the record. 

Mr. BALLANCE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and good morning to 

everyone. I would like to give an opening statement. 

The purpose of today’s hearing is to review the effect of the Highway Beautification Act on small businesses. This legislation, enacted in 1965, controls outdoor advertising along more than 

300,000 miles of the nation’s highway system that allows the location of billboard in commercial and industrial areas and requires 

just compensation for the removal of non-conforming billboards. 

The Committee is holding this hearing because the Act will be 

reauthorized as part of the Transportation Equity Act and because 

of its importance to the travel and tourism industry, which our 

economy depends so much upon. 

It is important that as we look at this legislation today we balance the needs of the travel and tourism industry to advertise their 

services with the need to protect the natural scenic, historic and architectural tourist sites on which these small businesses depend. 

As you may know, Mr. Chairman, I was born on a farm in rural 

eastern North Carolina, and I am well aware of the plight of small 

business owners in rural America. In fact, 98 percent of North 

Carolina’s businesses are small firms, and they employ 47 percent 

of the state’s employees. 

Clearly, effective advertising is critical to our nation’s rural and 

small businesses. What I think is important for the Committee to 

explore is not only the role billboards play in rural small business 

advertising, but also what other tools exist that can help them get 

their word out. 

Listen to any small business owner, and you will always hear 

how they are trying to make ends meet. One of the most strapped 

areas in their budgets is advertising, which means that money 

spent in this area must give them the most bang for their buck. 

When you look at billboard cost in comparison to other advertising 

costs at a small business owner’s fingertips, billboards can be prohibitively expensive. The average rent for a billboard is approximately $2,000 per month. 

Effective signage alternatives such as logo signs and tourist oriented directional signs can increase business at a lower cost without detracting from the character of the community. The typical 

highway logo sign maintained by a state transportation department 

costs roadside businesses an average of $800 per year. 

4

Logo signs and tourist oriented directional signs also level the 

playing field for small businesses. Rather than having to compete 

with a 1,200 foot McDonald’s Value Meal sign, small businesses 

can get a value for their dollar by advertising on these signs, in 

guidebooks and on the Internet. 

Advertising on the D.C. Chamber of Commerce Web site costs a 

small businesses between $3.50 and $12.50 per year, depending on 

the number of employees. An ad in Missouri’s official visitor’s guide 

costs a small business as little as $16.75 per year with 525,000 

publications being printed. 

I take very seriously any federal law that unfairly or unnecessarily places small businesses in further jeopardy. I have been 

acutely aware of the billboard situation in my home state. North 

Carolina ranks ninth in the nation for the number of billboards per 

state with more than 10,000 permitted billboards on federal aid 

highways. This translates to almost two billboards for every mile, 

with a person seeing at least 89 bills in an hour long trip. 

I am coming to a close, Mr. Chair. Part of the problem North 

Carolina is facing is that the federal government has not provided 

funding necessary to remove non-conforming signs. I strongly believe that we should not be going in and taking down billboards 

without providing compensation. However, we have failed to provide the means necessary to do so, and states are unable to bear 

the cost themselves. 

Keeping this all in mind, what we also need to be looking at are 

the positive aspects of billboard control. Removing billboards does 

not hurt the economy, but rather increases business as more tourists flock to areas that preserve their natural beauty. 

For example, in Vermont tourism spending rose 50 percent in the 

two years after it became billboard free. In the 10 years following 

its ban on billboards, retail sales in Houston, Texas, increased 100 

percent. More than 700 communities nationwide prohibit the construction of new billboards as a means to protect community character and quality of life, both of which directly impact local economies. In my home state, more than 90 communities prohibit the 

construction of new billboards, including prime tourist destinations 

like Durham, Kitty Hawk, Nags Head and Sugar Mountain. 

Continuing to control billboards through the Highway Beautification Act will help small business owners attract tourism to their 

communities, increase their economic well being and help their 

businesses thrive. 

Mr. Chairman, clearly small businesses in rural communities 

have challenges when it comes to getting the word out about their 

services. I want to thank you for highlighting this issue and the 

need rural business owners have for assistance. 

I look forward to working with you on this issue. I hope that in 

our discussions today and in the future we can look beyond billboards as the answer to small businesses’ advertising struggle and 

look to issues such as identifying the best advertising medium for 

a particular business and ensuring that small businesses are able 

to take advantage of the vast advertising opportunities available 

through the Internet. Then we will truly ensure that our rural 

small businesses have the tool they need to succeed. 

5

I want to thank the witnesses for taking the time to be here 

today. I look forward to hearing their discussions. 

Thank you very much. 

[Mr. Ballance’s statement may be found in the appendix.] 

Chairman GRAVES. Thank you, Mr. Ballance. 

At this time I would like to welcome our first witness, who is 

Sarah Kothe. She is the owner and operator of House of Os Bed 

& Breakfast. She has traveled out here to Washington with her 

husband, Gary, from Salisbury, Missouri, and I welcome you here. 

Thank you for being here, and I look forward to your testimony. 

STATEMENT OF SARAH KOTHE, OWNER AND OPERATOR, 

HOUSE OF OS BED & BREAKFAST, SALISBURY, MISSOURI 

Ms. KOTHE. Good afternoon, Chairman Graves, Ranking Member 

Ballance. It is an honor and a privilege to have the opportunity to 

share with you my story about my small business that has been 

affected economically by the Highway Beautification Act of 1965 regarding signs along federal and state highways. 

My husband, Gary, and I live approximately seven miles south 

of the small, rural town of Salisbury, which is located in Chariton 

County, Missouri. It is approximately halfway between St. Louis 

and Kansas City. Salisbury is about 12 miles west of Moberly, 

which is the home of General Omar Bradley Airport, and northeast 

of historical Arrow Rock, Missouri. 

Salisbury has a small motel, typically used by construction workers, but did not have a bed and breakfast. I saw the need and the 

opportunity to be successful in opening a bed and breakfast. After 

Gary’s father’s death in 1997, we inherited his house, which is located just east of our home and the center of our farm. This was 

the logical place for my dream to come true. I named my bed and 

breakfast House of Os, after my father-in-law. 

We are very proud of our efforts, as we know Os would have 

been. We are a very hard-working farm family where many sacrifices have been made to be able to own and operate our business. 

Os loved being with people, having good conversation and lots of 

laughter. We feel the bed and breakfast is a tribute to him, and 

we enjoy sharing his love of the rural life with others. 

Naturally, we are located in a rural area. We felt in order to promote the House of Os an outdoor sign was the most efficient and 

affordable means to attract and direct business. My business is difficult, at best, to find without signs directing the route to my place 

of business. 

I have three children. I am a granny with four grandchildren and 

another expected this fall. All of my family enjoys coming home to 

the farm where they pitch in to help with the chores, but also enjoy 

the relaxing atmosphere and peacefulness that the rural life offers. 

Gary and his father, Oswald—we called him Os—they farmed together 900 acres until Os’ death in 1997. This operation is labor 

intensive, and Gary is limited to his daily activity due to progressive rheumatoid arthritis. 

I retired from employment with USDA FSA County Office approximately three years ago chiefly to be around home to help Gary 

with our farming operation. I also had health issues, which included malignant lumpectomy with maximum radiation treatment 

6

in 1999, along with another bout of cancer resulting in mastectomy 

in June of 2002, and I am on continuing therapy. 

I had long dreamed of operating the bed and breakfast, so retirement did not necessarily mean quit working. Instead, I was able 

to have the best of both worlds—to run my bed and breakfast and 

to be home with Gary. 

We inquired of the Missouri Department of Transportation about 

permits before installing a directional sign. We were told by 

MoDOT employees that as long as the sign was placed out of the 

path of their equipment for snow removal, they saw no need for a 

permit. We proceeded to install a two foot by four foot metal sign 

in the field at the corner of Highway 5 and County Road 416. We 

were given permission by the landowner to place the sign in her 

field. 

All was well until Kaye Stacy, MoDOT Outdoor Advertising Permit Specialist, notified us that we had 30 days to remove the sign. 

I expressed my concern that customers would not be able to find 

the bed and breakfast, but to no avail. I was informed that I had 

no permit on record, and when I asked to be forwarded an application for such, I was told I could not apply. 

At this point I obtained an attorney to assist me in this matter. 

I was informed that because I was in a rural community with no 

commercial business within 600 feet of the sign and because the 

sign was not on land contingent with my bed and breakfast, 

MoDOT would remove this sign at my expense. Needless to say, 

the sign came down, and it remains down. 

As a result, my business has suffered drastically. Because I no 

longer have any outdoor advertising, even my neighbors ask me if 

I am still in business. The resulting effects of the Highway Beautification Act of 1965 has stifled my business. As a small business 

owner, I work hard to fully comply with all the rules and regulations regarding my business. For rural businesses, outdoor signage 

is the most useful and economical sound means of advertising. 

Again, thank you, Chairman Graves, Ranking Member Ballance. 

I will be happy to answer any questions you may have. 

I also have with me the correspondence from MoDOT and my attorney, as well as a photograph of my sign, which has been removed, if anybody wants to review this. 

[Ms. Kothe’s statement may be found in the appendix.] 

Chairman GRAVES. Thank you, Ms. Kothe. 

We are now going to hear from Professor Charles Taylor. Professor Taylor is a Professor of Marketing at Villanova University. 

He received his Ph.D. in Marketing from Michigan State University. He is currently president-elect of the American Academy of 

Advertising. 

Professor Taylor has been selected as a Fulbright Senior Scholar 

by the Council of International Exchange of Scholars. He is listed 

in Who’s Who in American Education and Who’s Who in the World. 

Thank you, Professor Taylor, for being here. I appreciate your 

testimony. 

7

STATEMENT OF CHARLES R. TAYLOR, PROFESSOR OF 

MARKETING, VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY 

Mr. TAYLOR. Thank you, Chairman Graves. Chairman Graves 

and Ranking Member Ballance, thank you very much for inviting 

me to testify today. 

Over the last 14 years, I have conducted extensive research on 

outdoor advertising, its regulation and its impact on business, and 

today, as you requested, I would like to give you my view of how 

the results of my studies impact on outdoor advertising. 

Chairman Graves already mentioned in his opening remarks that 

in rural areas billboards predominantly serve small, local business. 

This is a well established fact that the vast majority of businesses 

in rural areas are small, local businesses. 

There are several specific points I want to make. First off, billboards provide bottom line value to many small businesses. A large 

scale, national survey of billboard users that I conducted that will 

be forthcoming in the Journal of Advertising Research, a peer reviewed journal that is well respected in my field, showed conclusively that billboard owners believe that they will lose business if 

they lose access to billboards. 

The average estimate of lost sales among small businesses was 

more than 18 percent in terms of those who use billboards estimating how much they would lose. Follow-up studies show that the 

same is the case in Texas and Missouri. The overwhelming majority of billboard users indicate that they will lose sales if they do 

not have access to billboards, and small businesses are even more 

prone to indicate that they will lose sales. 

Another point I want to make is that small businesses use billboards primarily to provide information to consumers. A content 

analysis study that was published in the Journal of Public Policy 

and Marketing in 1994 and a follow-up published in the same journal in 1997 showed that by far the most common use of a billboard 

was to provide directions to a place of business. In fact, nearly 75 

percent of the billboards in the Michigan study I did provide directions to a place of business. 

It is also important to mention that in addition to directions, billboards allow businesses to communicate other types of important 

information to consumers. As such, motorist information panels or 

TODs are completely inadequate substitutes for billboards in rural 

areas. 

I say this for three primary reasons. First off, motorist information panels do not provide adequate ability to give directions to 

hard-to-find locations. If you happen to be located just off the interstate with a big on-premises sign they might be able to find you, 

but if you own a small bed and breakfast that requires a little bit 

more directions than that then you are in trouble. 

A second key issue and reason why motorist information panels 

are inadequate is that these other types of information are extremely important to communicate to consumers. For example, you 

might want to communicate information about the quality of your 

product offer. If you are a hotel, you might want to mention that 

you give an AARP discount or that the AAA approves you. If you 

serve hamburgers, you might want to indicate that they have 100 

percent beef. 

8

You might want to provide information on convenience like you 

are open 24 hours on a billboard. You cannot do that on a motorist 

information panel in any context that I know about. You might 

even need to tell what you offer. If you are a gas station or mini 

mart, you might want to note that you sell soda and sandwiches 

on your billboard, something again you cannot do on a motorist information panel. 

The third reason why motorist information panels are inadequate 

is because they do disproportionately harm small businesses. A 

huge business like McDonald’s that has invested millions of dollars 

in advertising over the years gains from that brand equity, and 

people instantly know what to expect at McDonald’s, where if you 

are Joe’s Hamburger Shop they do not know that. 

I would also like to mention, to summarize and close, a couple 

of brief points. My studies also show that billboard users overwhelmingly believe that other media are not substitutes for billboards, and there is nobody better to ask whether there are substitutes than the billboard users. Every advertising textbook out 

there will also tell you that these other media are not good substitutes for billboards, especially for small rural businesses. 

One other misnomer I would like to address is the notion that 

a large proportion of the public is against billboards. In fact, a 

meta-analysis study of 36 public opinion surveys of billboards, 

every major one I could find recently, shows that only about 20 percent of the public favors bans on billboards and that 82 percent of 

the public—this is an average across all the studies that have been 

conducted over time, literally thousands of observations—agree 

that billboards help businesses to attract customers. 

Chairman Graves and Ranking Member Ballance, thank you 

very much for the opportunity to address you. 

[Mr. Taylor’s statement may be found in the appendix.] 

Chairman GRAVES. Thanks, Professor Taylor. 

We do have a vote that was unexpected at this point. It is an appeal of the ruling of the Chair, I believe. I think we will recess just 

for a few minutes. We will go over and vote and then be right back 

over. So if you will just sit tight, it should not take us very long 

at all. 

We will recess for it. It will take us about 10 or 15 minutes. 

[Recess.] 

Chairman GRAVES. We can go ahead and get started again. Mr. 

Ballance should be right behind me somewhere. 

We just heard from Professor Taylor. Now we are going to hear 

from Chris Byrnes. Chris—let me see—Defenders of Property 

Rights, which is kind of the angle we always took in the state legislature, too, so it will be interesting to hear your testimony. And I 

appreciate you being here today. 

STATEMENT OF CHRIS BYRNES, COUNSEL, DEFENDERS OF 

PROPERTY RIGHTS 

Mr. BYRNES. First, I would like to thank the Chairman and the 

Subcommittee for the opportunity to address the Highway Beautification Act and the effect of sign removal on small and rural businesses. 

9

As an attorney with Defenders of Property Rights, I am deeply 

concerned about the forced removal of signs and the implications 

for the economic and property rights of these removals on small 

and rural businesses. Signs, both on premise signs and billboards, 

are absolutely essential to the economic vitality and survival of 

small and rural businesses. Currently signs are under siege at the 

state and local level by governments seeking to impose a sign-free, 

aesthetic utopia. 

We have heard testimony today about the importance of signs, so 

I just sort of want to underscore that. The signs serve a variety of 

functions, both economic and non-economic. A 1969 study by the 

Federal Highway Administration found a high correlation between 

traffic safety and high visibility commercial signs. Signs also support our $3 trillion-a-year retail industry. That is $3 trillion in revenues. $250 billion of these revenues are from advertising and marketing alone, so you can see that advertising is 

absolutely key to retail success for big and small businesses. 

This is certainly true in the case of on premise signs. A study 

conducted by the University of San Diego’s School of Business Administration found that addition or modification to an existing onpremise sign increased weekly sales by five percent. Addition of directional signs on a retail site increased sales four to 12 percent. 

This translates into on an annual basis to I guess a 4.75 percent 

increase in sales. 

Now, sign removal, consequently, would translate into equal or 

greater decreases in revenue. This is especially important for small 

and rural businesses. Small and rural businesses are often financially ill equipped to weather a downturn in the realm of a 10 or 

15 percent decrease in revenues. 

An argument can be made or had been made that advertising is 

really not that important to small and rural businesses in terms 

of signs and billboards because they often rely on a long-established clientele, they remain in the same locations for years, and 

that customers can find them without the visual cues provided by 

a sign. 

This may have been the reality four years ago, but this is simply 

not the case today. The increased mobility of Americans, business 

cycles spurring new customer bases in and out of rural areas all 

the time, they are no longer immune from business cycles, nor are 

they remote from most customers. In fact, many small and rural 

businesses cater specifically to out-of-town residents who are unfamiliar with the location, so advertising becomes even more essential, given the increased mobility and the specific demographic that 

they target. 

Signs are under siege at the state and local government level on 

an unprecedented level. Four states now currently ban the construction of billboards all together—Hawaii, Vermont, Maine and 

Alaska. Rhode Island and Oregon have banned the construction of 

new billboards, and localities and communities in 22 states, many 

of which include rural areas, have banned the new construction of 

billboards. 

Short of outright bans, a lot of communities have resorted to far 

more subtle methods of removing signs and billboards through a 

scheme called amortization. Luckily, the Highway Beautification 

10

Act sort of forecloses this as an option for signs and billboards near 

federal aid highways by mandating the payment of cash compensation. 

However, the threat still remains at the state and local level 

where a sign is declared non-conforming, the sign owner is given 

time to remove it, but the town or locality removing the sign does 

not pay just compensation as required by the Fifth Amendment to 

the Constitution. 

The argument goes well, the market will reimburse the owner for 

any loss of property from removal of the sign because the time period will allow him to recoup his investment. That is simply not 

what the Constitution mandates. It mandates that the government 

pay just compensation for the removal of the sign. 

Signs are absolutely essential to a free market economy and a 

free society, and Congress should certainly keep those concerns in 

mind when considering any changes of reauthorization to the Highway Beautification Act. 

Thank you for the opportunity to speak to this issue. I would be 

happy to answer any questions you may have. 

[The statement from Defenders of Property Rights may be found 

in the appendix.] 

Chairman GRAVES. Thank you, Mr. Byrnes. 

We are now going to hear from David Gorin, Gorin & King Associates. David, thank you for being here. 

STATEMENT OF DAVID GORIN, KING & GORIN ASSOCIATES, 

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF RV PARKS AND CAMPGROUNDS 

Mr. GORIN. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon. 

My name is David Gorin. I am a government affairs consultant 

for the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds. I was 

the president of that association for 15 years before retiring recently, and in my past I have also served as the national chairman 

of the Small Business Legislative Council and have owned small 

businesses and do so today. 

I want to congratulate both you, Mr. Chairman, and Mr. 

Ballance on your opening remarks. I think your comments and the 

statistics you have quoted were right on target and need to be 

heard more in the business community and among those people 

who have different views on the effectiveness of billboard advertising. 

It occurred to me listening to your comments that one of the 

most effective kinds of research you can do in the small business 

community is simply to look at what small business people do. 

They do not spend their advertising dollars lightly. The number of 

billboards operated and owned by small business is probably the 

best kind of research as to the effectiveness of those particular billboards. 

The National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds, or 

ARVC as it is usually called, has a long history of support and recognition of outdoor advertising or billboards as a key element in 

the marketing and advertising strategies of our members in particular, of travel and tourism businesses specifically and small 

businesses in general. 

11

As an industry comprised predominantly of family owned smaller 

businesses catering to highway travelers and tourists, our members 

constantly seek cost effective ways to reach that difficult moving 

target audience. A great deal of the industry has been built on the 

broad shoulders of large and small billboards along the highways 

with attractive graphics catching the attention of the traveler and 

ingenious copyrighters using an absolute minimum of letters to 

craft enough of a message to capture the mind of the viewer whizzing by at 55 miles an hour or faster. 

Let me also emphasize that our comments today are endorsed by 

the National Travel, Tourism and Recreation Coalition for Surface 

Transportation. This coalition is comprised of national tourism and 

recreation organizations that support enactment of strong and adequately funded reauthorization legislation that reflects the interests and needs of the tourism and recreation industries. 

It is important to note that for small businesses that serve the 

traveler, the choice of advertising media to reach that market is 

limited, and the importance of billboard advertising is very significant. Unless the highway traveler has had the opportunity to research their food, fuel, accommodations and attraction options in a 

particular area, the typical print, radio and television media serving an area is of no value to the small business or to the traveler. 

While there are advertising options such as directories, brochure 

distribution in visitors centers, travel magazines and guides, Web 

sites and other various media, studies have shown, as you have indicated yourselves, that billboard advertising is among the most effective way for a travel or tourist oriented business to reach its 

market. 

Studies conducted by various state tourism departments, as well 

as the outdoor advertising industry, indicate that highway travelers generally start considering their dining, accommodations and 

entertainment options approximately 30 to 60 minutes prior to the 

time they wish to make a stop. Without the important information 

provided by billboards in many parts of the country, the traveler 

is simply left to their own devices to find the necessary travel services they may require. 

With over 80 percent of all travel in the U.S. being done on the 

road, providing information to the highway traveler is a big and 

important job. While new technologies and new advertising concepts may be helpful, none has proven as effective in both reach 

and cost as billboards. 

We are well aware of the importance of the highway logo sign 

program in effect on most interstate highways. However, we do not 

consider that program as a viable alternative to billboards. Logo 

signs are small. They convey no message of value to the consumer 

other than to give notice that a particular business is located off 

the next exit. 

They are of little value to a non-branded business that is not 

quickly recognized by the consumer, and they are located so close 

to the exit and are intended to provide some guidance for last 

minute or changed need or to merely provide a reminder of direction for a consumer who made a decision many miles before by virtue of a billboard. 

12

I would at this point just point out the rest of my statement 

where we discuss a number of other issues related to the upcoming 

reauthorization of the highway bill and would encourage this Committee to look at other options of importance to small business in 

that particular bill. 

Thank you. 

Chairman GRAVES. Thank you, Mr. Gorin. I appreciate it. 

[Mr. Gorin’s statement may be found in the appendix.] 

Chairman GRAVES. We are now going to hear from John Eck, 

who is the owner of Servicetown Plaza in Fredericksburg, Virginia. 

John, thanks for being here. 

STATEMENT OF JOHN P. ECK, OWNER, SERVICETOWN TRAVEL 

PLAZA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF TRUCK STOP OPERATORS 

Mr. ECK. Thank you, Chairman Graves, Ranking Member 

Ballance. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today on the effects of the Highway Beautification Act on small businesses. 

My name is John Eck, and I am the owner of Servicetown Travel 

Plaza in Fredericksburg, Virginia. I have been an independent 

travel plaza owner/operator for the past nine years. I employ approximately 70 people. We are located on Interstate 95 at Exit 133, 

approximately 50 miles south of Washington. 

I am testifying today on behalf of NATSO, the national trade association representing America’s travel plazas and truck stops. I 

also serve on the Virginia Department of Transportation Roadway 

Signage Advisory Committee. 

The interstate highway system was built to efficiently move people and goods across the country. Without billboards, interstate 

travel becomes less efficient. People traveling from state to state 

need to know where they can stop for a meal, to fuel their cars and, 

in my case, most importantly, trucks and rest. Our businesses depend on the interstate motorists, and they in turn depend on us for 

food, fuel and rest. 

We have heard countless of NATSO members who have seen the 

benefits of billboards, and in fact many NATSO members have 

stated that their business has experienced a significant drop in 

sales following a storm that damaged their billboard. A recent survey of NATSO members revealed that travel plazas consider billboards extremely important to the success of their small businesses. 

More importantly, billboards are information tools for interstate 

travelers, and labeling billboards as merely advertising tells only 

a small part of the story. Billboards are critical links to service providers for drivers in unfamiliar territory. 

For the long haul trucker spending many nights away from 

home, highway signage is an absolute necessity. Professional drivers require information about highway businesses. They cannot 

just stop anywhere. They need to know what facilities can accommodate their trucks, where they can fuel and eat, and they may 

not be familiar enough with an area to make shopping choices 

without highway signage to guide them. 

Highway signage is particularly important to the truck stop and 

travel plaza industry and those that it serves. Truckers and other 

highway travelers account for approximately 90 percent, and often 

13

more, of an interstate based travel plaza’s business. A significant 

portion of these drivers are unfamiliar with an area and significantly rely on signage to locate places to stop for fuel, food and rest 

breaks. In fact, a recent industry survey of highway travelers found 

that two-thirds of those who were new visitors to a particular area 

reported that they observed highway signage. 

Travel plaza operators spend most of their advertising dollars on 

billboards because it has proven to be most efficient in relating information about services to the customer base. It is estimated that 

the truck stop, travel plaza and truck fuel stop would lose 15 to 25 

percent in sales if billboards were banned. This is particularly true 

in states where trees and shrubbery prevents motorists from seeing 

the travel plaza or even high-rise signage from the interstate. For 

an industry that generated $60.2 billion in sales in 2002, that 

would mean a loss of $9 billion to $15 billion each year. 

Billboards are very important to truckers because the services 

provided by a travel plaza or truck stop vary widely. Some fuel 

stops, for example, offer little more than diesel and gasoline, while 

a full service truck stop or travel plaza might provide hundreds of 

parking spaces, fast food and sit down restaurants, convenience 

stores, motels, fuel, showers, truck repair facilities and more. 

A trucker who is looking for a place to stop in the evening needs 

to know if that business offers truck parking. For truckers who are 

looking for a place to stop as their hours of service are expiring, 

signage can guide them to a safe, legal parking place. 

People who need to stop in an unfamiliar area for emergency 

purposes or during severe weather certainly would not characterize 

a billboard as an eyesore, but as a critical tool. 

There is no doubt about it. Small business owners like me need 

billboards and other highway signage to be able to attract motorists who are unfamiliar with the area. A small business owner cannot rely on billboards to communicate its specific offerings to motorists. RVers, bus drivers and truckers need to know where they 

can park. Families need to know where they can make one stop for 

gas and food. 

Billboards are an extremely effective means of advertising. I simply cannot afford to rely on print or broadcast advertising and 

would reach far more individuals by a simple highway sign. 

I urge Congress to support interstate signage so that the traveler 

can get more information that they need while on the road. Thank 

you. 

[Mr. Eck’s statement may be found in the appendix.] 

Chairman GRAVES. Thank you, Mr. Eck. 

We are now going to hear from Joe Martin, who is the owner/

operator of the Best Western Mark Motor Hotel in Weatherford, 

Oklahoma. Is it Weatherford? 

Mr. MARTIN. Weatherford. Yes, sir. 

Chairman GRAVES. Thanks for being here. 

STATEMENT OF JOE MARTIN, OWNER/OPERATOR, BEST WESTERN MARK MOTOR HOTEL, HAMPTON INN & SUITES, AMERICAN HOTEL AND LODGING ASSOCIATION 

Mr. MARTIN. Thank you, Chairman Graves, Ranking Member 

Ballance. 

14

As a representative of the American Hotel and Lodging Association and as an owner and operator of hotels, I would like to thank 

you for allowing me the opportunity speak about what has been for 

many years our number one advertising medium in marketing our 

hotels to the traveling public, namely outdoor advertising and billboards. 

One of my locations is not unlike thousands across the U.S. It 

is a Best Western hotel located just off Interstate 40 in rural Oklahoma approximately one hour west of Oklahoma City in the community of Weatherford. The interstate bypasses the main part of 

our community, and our greatest opportunity to draw travelers into 

our community and to our hotel is provided by outdoor advertising 

or billboards. 

We have done internal research over many years that shows us 

that approximately 70 percent of our customers arrive at our hotel 

as a result of our billboard advertising. We feel so strongly about 

the benefits of outdoor advertising that we actually own 10 of the 

13 billboards that are used to market our hotel. We lease the other 

three from outdoor advertising companies. This is probably one 

thing that makes our property unique as it relates to the use of 

billboards. 

Recently we had the opportunity to truly realize the importance 

of our billboards to our success. We had a landowner of one of our 

billboards that we owned that was near the exit to reach our hotel 

come to us to tell us that he had an opportunity to develop the land 

where our billboard was located and that we were going to have 

to remove the billboard. Of course, we complied with his request. 

What we found as a result was after many years of remarkable 

consistency in our business, after removing this billboard we experienced a 10 percent decrease in business. After several months, we 

were able to lease a billboard location very near the one we lost, 

and almost immediately we saw a return to our normal business 

trends. This proved to us that our hotel’s success and the jobs it 

represents in our small community is quite dependent upon our 

ability to maintain the use of outdoor advertising or billboards. 

I recently built a Hampton Inn & Suites in Stillwater, Oklahoma, 

the home of Oklahoma State University. We have devoted 50 percent of our entire advertising budget to outdoor advertising, and 

many of our first time guests, even though we do other promotion, 

tell us that they did not know we were there until they saw our 

billboards. 

I might also add that in some cases outdoor advertising provides 

a certain level of safety to travelers. We have all heard of stories 

of unfortunate situations where individuals or families have lost 

their way or taken a wrong turn only to find themselves in unfamiliar surroundings and very vulnerable to dangerous circumstances. In such cases billboards are not only used for marketing purposes as I have spoken of today, but they also are a public service to the traveling public. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman GRAVES. Thank you, Mr. Martin. 

[Mr. Graves’ statement may be found in the appendix.] 

15

Chairman GRAVES. We are now going to hear from Meg Maguire. 

Meg is the president of Scenic America. I want to thank you for 

being here today. 

STATEMENT OF MEG MAGUIRE, PRESIDENT, SCENIC AMERICA 

Ms. MAGUIRE. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and Congressman Balance, for the opportunity to testify today. 

I am Meg Maguire. I am the president of Scenic America. We 

have 25 organizations around the country, and both of your states 

have a Scenic America affiliate associated in those states, so we 

have some real familiarity with your states. 

I think all of us would probably agree that there is a lot that is 

wrong with the Highway Beautification Act. I would take issue 

with a number of my colleagues here today on the panel, but certainly the Highway Beautification Act is not one that we think is 

a very good federal Act. On the other hand, it needs complete reform and not piecemeal action, and we are going to be urging the 

Congress after T–21 to take a look at the Highway Beautification 

Act as a whole. 

I think all of us can agree that signs are necessary in America 

for people to get around, so I take issue with the gentleman from 

Defenders of Property Rights that we are somehow looking to have 

a sign free America. That is simply not the case. What we are looking for is a balance between information that signs provide and scenic beauty, the kinds of things that people are traveling now to experience. 

Let me stick to what I understand to be the principal focus of 

this hearing today, and that is the issue of information about small 

businesses. First, let us dispel the notion that there are not a lot 

of billboards in America. Indeed, Ladybird Johnson’s goal of 

beautifying America’s highways has proven to be quite elusive. 

In 1991, the Congressional Research Service estimated that there 

were 425,000 billboards on America’s highways and that that number was going up by six percent per year. By any way you count 

that, whether it is a straight line or compounded, you would find 

that there are 731,000 billboards to 885,000 billboards on America’s federal aid highways alone, not counting state roads and city 

streets, so we are not really talking about, you know, today getting 

rid of all of those billboards. 

Visual pollution hurts local economies, and it lowers property 

values. While you are looking at this Act, I would encourage you 

to look at the experience of homeowners who have had billboards 

go up near their properties. There is a famous case in West Virginia where the property values of two homeowners were devalued 

by 30 percent because billboards went up. 

Congressman Graves, in your own district—not in your district; 

in your state—this gentleman, Mr. McElfresh, built a home in the 

Ozarks in the 1950s because it is such a beautiful area. I have 

been there. A huge billboard went up in 1997, and now he cannot 

see the night sky. The bugs swarm around. I would really ask that 

you have a look at his situation as a property right. In my testimony I have included several other examples, and we have more 

to share with you. 

16

On the question of scenic byways, I would urge you not to rely 

on billboard proliferation along scenic byways, but rather to work 

very closely to establish a widespread, tourist oriented directional 

sign program along our scenic byways. 

Let me give you one example of billboard proliferation and the 

damage that it has done. In Holmes County, Ohio, which is a 

strong Amish county with weak billboard controls, they had applied 

for scenic byway designation, and while the Ohio Department of 

Transportation was considering that application 100 billboards 

went up throughout the county. Now they feel that they are not 

nearly as scenic as they were, and they are all heartsick about it. 

Before we go to the Scenic Byways Program, I would urge you 

not to do that. Let us look at good signage for rural America. I 

think there are some landscape friendly alternatives to billboard 

advertising. Congressman Ballance mentioned some of those. 

We are very interested in those new technologies and how small 

businesses can benefit from those. You have mentioned the Internet. There are also various kinds of in car technologies now. Certainly the Internet is one of the major ones, but there are also 

handy guides that you can keep in your car to tell you all the kinds 

of travel and lodging information that you would find at any of the 

interchanges along the interstate. As you are looking at this problem of small business, please do look very carefully at the variety 

of alternatives. 

Billboards have been down in Vermont since 1975. The last one 

came down then. I do not know if you have traveled to Vermont. 

It is a beautiful state, and they have a very successful tourist-oriented directional sign program there that helps all small businesses. 

Missouri now has one as well, and I believe that the folks who 

have testified today about their sign problem are indeed eligible for 

the Missouri TOD program. I have given them some information 

and some people to call. We think they got bad advice from the 

Missouri DOT, but I have given them some information to check 

out. 

Let me just close by saying that the issue of travel and tourism 

today is a very important one in America. This is the third largest 

industry retail business that is growing, and it is tremendously important that we have good signage systems. 

I would like to offer to work with this Committee on looking at 

how tourist-oriented directional signs might get a big boost from 

this Committee in helping rural America to be signed so tourists 

can find out about where these businesses are and also to call your 

attention to the National Scenic Byways Program, which is one of 

the best strategies for creating new small businesses and for getting people to patronize small businesses. 

Since I am out of time, I will just submit my remarks for the 

record, and I appreciate the time to be here. 

Chairman GRAVES. Thank you very much, Ms. Maguire. 

[Ms. Maguire’s statement may be found in the appendix.] 

Chairman GRAVES. Everyone’s remarks, too, in full, will be submitted for the record, if you did not happen to get through all of 

them. 

17

I do want to start out with questions. One of the problems I have 

with the scenic byways, and this is directed to you, Ms. Maguire, 

is, you know, it is the property rights issue. We talk about, you 

know, signs going up and whether they should not go up or the scenery destroyed or whatever the case may be, but do you not think 

that to an extent that is a decision of the landowner? 

I mean, it is the landowner’s scenery, at least in Missouri. You 

know, should it not be their determination on whether or not they 

want signs? That is an infringement on property rights, I would 

think. 

Ms. MAGUIRE. Well, the National Scenic Byways Program, and 

when the states agree to have a program they do agree that their 

scenic byways will be billboard free; that is, that no new billboards 

will go up. They do not require the removal of the existing billboards. 

This is because the traveling public has a right to expect that 

when they get off on a scenic byway, whether it is a state scenic 

byway or a national scenic byway, that that will be a beautiful 

area, so those rules in the scenic byways program are really designed to keep certain areas that are designated by the states—

these are not designated by the federal government. To keep those 

truly scenic. 

Chairman GRAVES. They are not necessarily designated by the 

federal government, but the federal government forces the states 

into these programs, which I have a problem with mandates, by 

withholding or threatening to withhold federal funds. 

Ms. MAGUIRE. That is not the case with the Scenic Byways program, not at all. You are eligible for a small pot of money if you 

are part of the Scenic Byways program. Right now it is only $26 

million a year. There are no withholdings whatsoever for not being 

part of the Scenic Byways program. 

We still have a couple of states that are not part of the program. 

However, they are seeking to become part of the program because 

it is a wonderful way for international advertising for the small 

businesses along those highways. 

Chairman GRAVES. We accept your offer to work with us to come 

up with alternatives. As soon as we are done with T–21, we are 

going to address this issue. I know it is going to come up on the 

Transportation Committee, which I also sit on. We are going to be 

addressing this and using the testimony that was given here today 

to help guide us through that. 

I do have a question for Ms. Kothe. Do you have any idea what 

happened after your sign was taken down, your business, how 

much it suffered? Do you have any statistics or anything like that? 

Ms. KOTHE. I do not have any statistics so to speak. I know last 

year at this time I had as much as three to four on average per 

month confirmed reservations. Today I have no confirmations. I 

have some leads, but no confirmations. 

Chairman GRAVES. Mr. Ballance? 

Mr. BALLANCE. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do have lots of questions. 

I am going to forego most of them. This is Thursday afternoon, and 

it is travel time. 

18

To follow up, Ms. Kothe, as I understand it, the highway that 

your bed and breakfast is located on does in fact allow billboards. 

Is that correct? 

Ms. KOTHE. Some are up, but I was told that mine was put up 

after the Grandfather Act, so I could not fall in that Grandfather 

Act. 

Mr. BALLANCE. So it was not a matter that your sign did not conform; it was simply you were told that no other billboards were 

going up on the highway? 

Ms. KOTHE. I was quoted the certain sections of the law and that 

it did not confirm with the mandatory size and type and all of that. 

Mr. BALLANCE. Okay. I do not want to cut you off, but that could 

have been a conformity with some technical aspects of the bill? 

Ms. KOTHE. Yes. 

Mr. BALLANCE. Was your sign on the highway right-of-way, or 

was it on private property? 

Ms. KOTHE. No, no. It was in a field off of there. Gary farms that 

field, and we rent it from the landowner. It was well in the field 

and away from the highway equipment and all, and so really the 

only one bothered by it was Gary as far as——. 

Mr. BALLANCE. Again, I apologize. I do not want to cut you off, 

but I am trying to rush through this. 

Do you advertise in any alternate type such as AAA, the Internet, any of those? Have you looked into those? 

Ms. KOTHE. I am listed in Missouri Vacation Planner, and I have 

Internet. I have a Web site. I am a member of the Chamber of 

Commerce, so I am listed with that as well. 

Mr. BALLANCE. All right. Dr. Taylor, to date very little data has 

been collected about the effect of limiting billboards on small businesses. I could say more about that, but would you respond to that 

issue? 

Mr. TAYLOR. I would cite my study, my survey of small businesses, of businesses who use billboards. There were many small 

businesses who responded. 

The main findings of the study were, first, that small businesses 

do not believe that these other media are substitutes. We have got 

the benefit of having people extremely knowledgeable in the hotel 

and restaurant business and truck stops here, and they are telling 

you the consumers do not make decisions this way. 

You know, the vast majority of their business does not come from 

people who go on the Internet. You know, to have a good Internet 

Web site is not cheap either. I mean, if you have a Web site, I 

mean, you are reaching customers in Korea, in Germany, you 

know, as well as the local area. These people’s business comes from 

people that are driving through the area in a lot of these contexts. 

The other issue that came out of this study is that billboard 

users report that they will lose. The vast majority report that they 

will lose business if they are denied access to their billboards. Over 

80 percent say that, and then the average loss among all businesses, even including those who report they will not lose any business, is about 15 percent, and among small businesses it is on the 

order of 20 percent. 

19

Mr. BALLANCE. Now, would you agree that the Federal Highway 

Administration does not have comprehensive data on this issue and 

has not collected it? 

Mr. TAYLOR. I do not know that the Federal Highway Administration has collected it. What I am suggesting is that I have done 

a relevant study myself. 

Mr. BALLANCE. Was your study commissioned by anyone in particular? 

Mr. TAYLOR. That study was supported by the Advertising Association of America. Yes. 

Mr. BALLANCE. Okay. Also if I may just put this question to you. 

Your 1994 study also found that 74.2 percent of billboards in rural 

areas provide information that is potentially useful to tourists. 

A similar study found that 72 percent of people surveyed in 

Rhode Island responded that they received either very little or no 

useful information about products and services from billboards. In 

Florida, the margin of those who derived more useful information 

from logo signs than billboards about restaurants, gas stations and 

other services were 63 to 16. In Missouri, the margin was 68 to 18 

in favor of logo signs. 

Can you explain these disparities? 

Mr. TAYLOR. Yes. First off, my Michigan study was a content 

analysis, meaning we analyzed the information that is actually on 

the billboard, so it was not a survey of public opinion. 

I believe the Rhode Island study that you cite was a phone survey where they started out talking about tons of different types of 

pollution. They asked consumers how they felt about litter, how 

they felt about sewage, you know, how they felt about air pollution, 

and then they started asking them questions about billboards, so 

my view is it is a very biased survey, unlike my studies, has not 

survived peer review and gotten into academic journals. I cannot 

take that kind of thing seriously, quite honestly. 

Mr. BALLANCE. Mr. Chairman, I do have some other questions, 

but I think I am just going to forego. I understand that there are 

some planes that are warming up. People need to make connections. 

Chairman GRAVES. We do have a few minutes yet. I do have a 

couple more questions if you want to ask too, Mr. Ballance. 

Mr. BALLANCE. All right. 

Chairman GRAVES. One is for Mr. Byrnes. In your testimony 

there was something I wanted to clear up, too, that I was curious 

about. You said that on-premise signs do not enjoy the same protections under the Highway Beautification Act as billboards. Did I 

hear that correctly? 

Mr. BYRNES. That was in an earlier testimony. I do not think 

that is in the current draft of the testimony. 

Chairman GRAVES. Okay. I did not know if you wanted to explain 

that a little bit further or not because I read that in one of the submitted testimonies. 

Mr. BYRNES. I believe the Highway Beautification Act mandates 

just compensation for outdoor advertising structures, for the removal of them. There was some I guess confusion as to the implementing regulations as to whether on-premise or on-property signs 

20

are also included within the definition of outdoor advertising structure. 

Chairman GRAVES. Okay. Mr. Gorin, you had mentioned looking 

into other means of advertising. Do you have any ideas? 

Mr. GORIN. Well, low frequency radio has been tried in several 

places and is used in the tunnel in Boston and some other places 

where regular signage is not available. On board communications, 

satellite communications. A lot of vehicles are being equipped with 

those kinds of things today. 

I do not necessarily see any of those as adequate replacements 

or substitutes for billboards. I see them as additional media that 

small businesses will have available in the future. I do not think 

there is anything at the moment that I see coming that would replace highway signage as we know it today. 

Chairman GRAVES. Mr. Ballance? 

Mr. BALLANCE. Yes, Mr. Chairman. 

Ms. Maguire, there are a lot of communities that are destinations 

for tourists. In my studies here, it seems that many of those communities do not want these signs. Am I correct on that? What is 

the impact in those communities of tourism? 

Ms. MAGUIRE. First, the billboards are largely regulated at the 

state and local level, and so states can make decisions about most 

things having to do with outdoor advertising. 

Your state, for example, Congressman Ballance, voted not to 

have billboards along the new I–40. In Missouri, in 2000 there was 

a ballot initiative, and 49 percent of the people in Missouri voted 

to stop new billboard construction; not to bring billboards down, 

but to stop new billboard construction. That is the best poll of all 

when people are voting at the polls about this issue. 

The decision not to have billboards was reaffirmed in Alaska in 

2000 by 72 percent of the voters. Vermont advertises on billboards 

in New Hampshire. There is a beautiful picture of a pastoral scene 

that is in your testimony saying come to Vermont. We have no billboards, and here is why. You see a beautiful, pastoral scene. 

People take very different perspectives on this, but there is a lot 

of state and local control over these issues, and those communities, 

the list that I have handed out to you of the communities that have 

stopped new billboard construction, have said we have enough of 

these signs. We do not want them anymore. We do not want any 

more of them because they are beginning to detract from the very 

things that people come to our communities to see, and they have 

not suffered. 

Houston, Texas, had a real problem attracting good businesses 

there in the early 1980s. They had 10,000 billboards, 10,500 in 

Houston. They clamped down on new construction, and today 

through attrition they have about 5,000, so the city is looking far, 

far better. That was the decision that Houstonians made. It was 

not something that the federal government had any business in. 

I think that state and local governments really have a lot of control over this issue and are right at the heart of where the people 

are. 

Mr. BALLANCE. What are your thoughts about the impact if we 

do not fund this just compensation issue from the federal level? 

21

Mr. MARTIN. I think that this is one of the big problems with the 

Highway Beautification Act. We said you can remove billboards, 

but then we did not give any money out after the first couple of 

years. 

It is really a forgotten piece of public business, and we think it 

is very important that this come into focus and get the kind of attention that it needs, but it has to be done with the proper facts. 

I take issue with the research that Mr. Taylor has done. Again, 

we have results at the polls that would suggest that a lot of Americans do not want to see their communities littered with billboards, 

and this is in no way to detract from the tremendously important 

issues of small business signage. 

If that is your point of departure, which I believe it is for this 

Committee, then you start not with the fact that we have lots and 

lots of billboards, but what is the best way to get people to those 

businesses, all kinds of businesses in rural America. 

Mr. BALLANCE. Mr. Chairman, I am going to end with this. I am 

on this Committee because I support small businesses. I also count 

myself as an environmentalist. In my 20 years of public service, I 

just believe there is an avenue where parties can come together 

and reach an amicable solution. 

Ms. Kothe, I am certainly concerned about your sign and your 

business, but I am also concerned that if we are serious about 

these billboards that we certainly have to put up our money. The 

states do not have any. I believe in the Fifth Amendment. We just 

have to work a little harder. Some of the alternatives that have 

been talked about here today may be helpful. 

Thank you very much. 

Chairman GRAVES. Thank you, Mr. Ballance. 

I appreciate everyone being here today. This is a very important 

issue, and you are right. The focus of this Committee is small business and how billboards affect that, what effect it has on that business when those billboards are taken down. 

Personally, I have not only that, but a second problem with it, 

and that is property rights. I do think people should also have the 

right to do what they want with their property when it does not 

affect others. You know, I can see property rights devaluation in 

maybe some of the urban areas. In the rural areas it is not so 

much of an issue, but I do have a problem with that. 

I look forward to working with you on coming up with some solutions and looking forward to trying to come up with some solutions, 

alternatives as far as that goes, for small business to be able to get 

their point across and be able to give directions. 

We will be working on this. After we get done with the federal 

reauthorization of the transportation bill, which is T–21—that is 

the new acronym for it—we will be looking into this, making 

changes. It will probably be a major overhaul of the bill because 

there are problems with it. 

I look forward to working with all of you, if you can, to give us 

some input into that. All of your testimonies will be recorded. We 

appreciate that. That is the most important part is to get that on 

record so we can use that. 

22

Again, I want to thank everybody for being here today and taking part. I apologize for the vote in the middle of the hearing, but 

that is obviously part of what we do out here. 

Thank you very much for everyone coming. The hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 2:19 p.m. the Subcommittee was adjourned.]

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