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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES - FLOOR VERSION
STATE OF OKLAHOMA
1st Session of the 60th Legislature (2025)
HOUSE BILL 2053 By: Stinson of the House
and
Frix of the Senate
AS INTRODUCED
An Act relating to transportation; amending 69 O.S .
2021, Section 1273, which relates to outdoor
advertising definitions; defining term; and providing
an effective date.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. AMENDATORY 69 O.S. 2021, Section 1 273, is
amended to read as follows:
Section 1273. As used in Section 1271 et seq. of this title:
(a) "Sign", "outdoor advertising" or "outdoor advertising
device" means any ou tdoor sign, display, device, notice, figure,
painting, drawing, message, placar d, poster, billboard or other
thing which is designed, intended or used to advertise or inform,
but shall not include surface markers showing the location or route
of underground utility facilities or pipelines or public telephone
coin stations installed f or emergency use.
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(b) "Main traveled way" means the traveled way of a highway on
which through traffic is carried. In the case of a divided highway,
the traveled way of each o f the separated roadways for traffic in
opposite directions is a main traveled way. It does not include
such facilities as frontage roads, turning roadways or parking
areas.
(c) "To erect" and its variants means to construct, build,
raise, assemble, place, affix, attach, create, paint, draw or in any
other way bring into being or e stablish. But these shall not
include any of the foregoing activities when performed as incident
to the change of advertising message or customary maintenance of the
sign structure.
(d) "Unzoned commercial or industrial areas" means those areas
which are not zoned by state or local law, regulation or ordinance,
and on which there is located one or more permanent structures
devoted to a commercial or industrial activity or on which a
commercial or industrial activity is actually conducted, whether or
not a permanent structure is located thereon, and the area along the
highway extending outward six hundred (600) feet from and beyond the
edge of such activity on both sides of the h ighway. Provided,
however, the unzoned area shall not include land on the oppo site
side of an interstate or dual -laned limited access primary highway
from the commercial or industrial activity establishing the unzoned
commercial or industrial area or land on the opposite side of other
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federal-aid primary highways, which land is deem ed scenic by an
appropriate agency of the state.
All measurements shall be from the outer edges of the regularly
used buildings, parking lots, storage or processing areas of the
commercial or industrial activities, not from the property lines of
the activities, and shall be along or parallel to the edge of
pavement of the highway. Such an area shall not include any area
which is beyond six hundred sixty (660) feet from the nearest edge
of the right-of-way. In unzoned commercial or industrial areas ,
signs shall not be located:
(1) Within three hundred (300) feet of any building used
primarily as a residence, unless the owner of the
building consents in writing to allow the sign t o
exist; or
(2) Within five hundred (500) feet of any of the
following: public park, garden, recreation area or
forest preserve, church, school and officially
designated historical battlefield.
All spacing considerations are determined by whether or not they
exist within the adjacent or control area.
(e) "Commercial and industrial a ctivities" means those
activities, clearly visible from the main traveled way, generally
recognized as commercial or industrial by zoning authorities in this
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state, except that none of the following shall be considered
commercial or industrial:
(1) Agricultural, forestry, ranching, grazing, farming and
related activities, including, but not limited to,
wayside fresh produce stands;
(2) Outdoor advertising structures;
(3) Transient or temporary activities;
(4) Activities more than six hundred sixty (660) fee t from
the nearest edge of the right -of-way;
(5) Activities conducted in a building principally used as
a residence; and
(6) Railroad tracks and minor sidings.
(f) "Official signs" means signs and notices erected and
maintained by public officers or publi c agencies within their
territorial jurisdiction and pursuant to and in accordance with
direction or authorization contained in federal or state law for the
purposes of carrying out an official duty or responsibility.
(g) "Informational signs" means signs containing directions or
information about public places owned or operated by federal, state
or local governments or their agencies, publicly or privately owned
natural phenomena, historic, cultural, educational and religious
sites, and areas of natural s cenic beauty or naturally suited for
outdoor recreation, deemed to be in the interest of the traveling
public.
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(h) "On-premise activities signs" means signs advertising
activities conducted upon the property on which the signs are
located.
(i) "On-premise sale or lease signs" means signs advertising
the sale or lease of property on which they are located.
(j) "Interstate highway" means any highway at any time
officially designated a part of the National System of Interstate
and Defense Highways by the De partment and approved by the
appropriate authority of the federal government.
(k) "Primary highway" means the Federal -aid Primary System in
existence on June 1, 1991, and any highway which is not on that
system but is on the National Highway System.
(l) "Centerline of the highway" means a line equidistant from
the edges of the median separating the main traveled ways of a
divided highway, or the centerline of the main traveled way of a
nondivided highway.
(m) "Adjacent area" or "control area" means the a rea which is
adjacent to and within six hundred sixty (660) feet of the nearest
edge of the right-of-way on any interstate or primary highway within
urban areas, which six -hundred-sixty-foot distance shall be measured
horizontally along a line perpendicula r to, or ninety (90) degrees
to, the centerline of the highway. Outside of urban areas, adjacent
area or control area means the area which is visible from the main
traveled way on any interstate or primary highway.
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(n) "Business area" means any part of a control area which is:
(1) Within six hundred sixty (660) feet of the nearest
edge of the right-of-way and zoned for business,
industrial or commercial activities under the
authority of any state zoning law , or city or county
zoning ordinance of this stat e; or
(2) Not so zoned, but which constitutes an unzoned
commercial or industrial area as herein defined.
(o) "Department" means the Department of Transportation of the
State of Oklahoma.
(p) "Maintain" means to hold or keep in a state of efficiency
or validity, to support or sustain, by cleaning or repairing the
sign or changing the message on its face.
(q) "Visible" means capable of being seen without visual aid by
a person of normal visual acuity.
(r) "License" means the privilege to do business in t he State
of Oklahoma having been granted by an official agency.
(s) "Permit" means the privilege to erect a sign or signs in an
individual location within the State of Oklahoma having been granted
by an official agency.
(t) "License fee" means the moneta ry consideration paid for the
privilege of doing business in the State of Oklahoma.
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(u) "Permit fee" means the monetary consideration paid for the
privilege of erecting a sign or signs in a specific location within
the State of Oklahoma.
(v) "Urban area" means an urbanized area or, in the case of an
urbanized area encompassing more than one state, that part of the
urbanized area in each such state, or an urban place as designat ed
by the Bureau of the Census having a population of five thousand
(5,000) or more and not within any urbanized area, within boundaries
to be fixed by responsible state and local officials in cooperation
with each other, subject to approval by the Secretary of
Transportation. Such boundaries shall, as a minimum, encompass the
entire urban place designated by the Bureau of the Census.
(w) "Relocation permit" means a permit issued pursuant to the
provisions of subparagraph (d) of paragraph (3) of Section 1 275 of
this title. A relocation permit shall have precedence over any
municipal or county restriction that interferes with the intended
purpose of providing a method and opportunity to minimize the cost
of acquiring legally erected outdoor advertising signs by the
Department; provided, however, for those municipalities with a
population in excess of five hundred thousand (500,000) based on the
most recent census data, neither a relocation permit nor any outdoor
advertising sign permit shall be issued in th ose areas in which a
municipality or county has lawfully enacted a prohibition on the
erection of an outdoor advertising sign. This section shall not
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prohibit a registered sign owner from seeking just compensation
through a legal proceeding.
(x) "Playground" means an outdoor space that contains
permanently affixed playground equipm ent where the primary use is
for children to play, excluding those spaces where the equipment is
an accessory use to a commercial enterprise. Playground equipment
located on privately owned residential properties, where the primary
use is to serve the per sonal residence, shall also not be
considered.
SECTION 2. This act shall become effective November 1, 202 5.
COMMITTEE REPORT BY: COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
OVERSIGHT, dated 02/25/2025 – DO PASS.