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The Congress is back - and the Highway Beautification Act remains a target!

As you know, Congress has returned for a lame duck session following last week's elections. There is likely to be a strong push to pass the appropriations bills that are still pending, including the energy and water appropriation that contains a completely nongermane, but very dangerous, provision that would weaken a key part of the Highway Beautification Act.

The outdoor advertising industry has inserted into the Senate's version of the bill language that will cripple the part of the HBA that says that when nonconforming billboards are destroyed by natural disasters they cannot be rebuilt.

This is the issue: Nonconforming billboards are signs that no longer conform to federal, state, and local laws and regulations. They could not legally be built today. They are in places they don't belong. Many of these old signs have been out of compliance with the law for well over 30 years. They are supposed to go away, over time. They law says that nature can take its course and remove these old blighted signs from our landscapes and cityscapes. Communities have been waiting patiently for decades to get rid of them. But now the industry wants to make them permanent. 

As the billboard industry says in their own materials, their goal is to make sure that nonconforming signs are "here to stay." By attacking the storm-destruction provision of the law, they are trying to weaken the entire concept of nonconforming signs. They are trying to subvert the will of the people and the prerogatives of local governments.

We need your help to stop them. Time is running out. Congress is likely to act within the next few days. Please use our form below to write to your members of Congress and tell them: 

• The Highway Beautification Act should not be weakened by sneaky provisions tucked into nongermane appropriations bills.
• Community rights should be protected and nonconforming signs should not be protected in any way.
• Special favors should not be granted to an extremely profitable industry that consistently runs roughshod over the interests of citizens and local governments.

And most importantly:

• Title V, Sec.503 of the Senate's version of the energy and water appropriation bill should be removed in its entirety by the House-Senate conference committee that ultimately will consider the bill.

The clock is ticking and we need your help to keep the forces of blight from winning.

WRITE TO YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TODAY! FILL IN THE INFORMATION BELOW AND CLICK "SEND THIS MESSAGE!"