Florida Senate - 2021                             CS for SB 1670
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Transportation; and Senator Gainer
       
       
       
       
       
       596-03594-21                                          20211670c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to outdoor advertising; amending s.
    3         479.07, F.S.; requiring the Department of
    4         Transportation to create and implement a publicly
    5         accessible electronic database for sign permit
    6         information; specifying requirements for the database;
    7         prohibiting the department from furnishing permanent
    8         metal permit tags or replacement tags and from
    9         enforcing specified provisions once the department
   10         creates and implements the database; specifying that
   11         permittees are not required to return permit tags to
   12         the department once the department creates and
   13         implements the database; providing an effective date.
   14          
   15  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   16  
   17         Section 1. Subsection (5) of section 479.07, Florida
   18  Statutes, is amended to read:
   19         479.07 Sign permits.—
   20         (5)(a) For each permit issued, the department shall furnish
   21  to the applicant a serially numbered permanent metal permit tag.
   22  The permittee is responsible for maintaining a valid permit tag
   23  on each permitted sign facing at all times. The tag shall be
   24  securely attached to the upper 50 percent of the sign structure,
   25  and attached in such a manner as to be plainly visible from the
   26  main-traveled way. The permit tag must be properly and
   27  permanently displayed at the permitted site within 30 days after
   28  the date of permit issuance. If the permittee fails to erect a
   29  completed sign on the permitted site within 270 days after the
   30  date on which the permit was issued, the permit will be void,
   31  and the department may not issue a new permit to that permittee
   32  for the same location for 270 days after the date on which the
   33  permit becomes void.
   34         (b) If a permit tag is lost, stolen, or destroyed, the
   35  permittee to whom the tag was issued must apply to the
   36  department for a replacement tag. The department shall establish
   37  a service fee for replacement tags in an amount that will
   38  recover the actual cost of providing the replacement tag. Upon
   39  receipt of the application accompanied by the service fee, the
   40  department shall issue a replacement permit tag.
   41         (c)1. As soon as practicable, the department shall create
   42  and implement a publicly accessible electronic database to
   43  include all permits issued by the department. At a minimum, the
   44  database must include the name and contact information of the
   45  permit operator, the structure identification number or numbers,
   46  the panel or face identification number or numbers, the latitude
   47  and longitude of the permitted sign, the compass bearing, images
   48  of the permitted sign once constructed, and the most recent date
   49  the department visually inspected the permitted sign.
   50         2. Once the department creates and implements the publicly
   51  accessible electronic database:
   52         a. The department may not furnish permanent metal permit
   53  tags or replacement tags to permittees;
   54         b. The department may not enforce the provisions relating
   55  to permanent metal permit tags or replacement tags specified in
   56  paragraphs (a) and (b); and
   57         c. Permittees are not required to return permit tags to the
   58  department as provided in subsection (8).
   59         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2021.