SENATE FLOOR VERSION - SB984 SFLR Page 1
(Bold face denotes Committee Amendments) 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
SENATE FLOOR VERSION
February 24, 2025
SENATE BILL NO. 984 By: Frix and Murdock
An Act relating to the Highway Advertising Control
Act of 1972; amending 69 O.S. 2021, Section 1273,
which relates to definitions; defining term; updating
statutory language; and providing an effective date .
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. AMENDATORY 69 O.S. 2021, Section 1273, is
amended to read as follows:
Section 1273. As used in Section 1271 et seq. of this title:
(a) 1. “Sign”, “outdoor advertising”, or “outdoor advertising
device” means any outdoor sign, display, device, notice, figure,
painting, drawing, message, placard, poster, billboard , or other
thing which is designed, intended , or used to advertise or inform,
but shall not include su rface markers showing the location or route
of underground utility facilities or pipelines or public telephone
coin stations installed for emergency use .;
(b) 2. “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 of the separated roadways for
traffic in opposite directions is a main traveled way. It does not
SENATE FLOOR VERSION - SB984 SFLR Page 2
(Bold face denotes Committee Amendments) 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
include such facilities as frontage roads, turning roadways , or
parking areas.;
(c) 3. “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 establish. But these shall not
include any of the foregoing activities whe n performed as incident
to the change of advertising message or customary maintenance of the
sign structure.;
(d) 4. “Unzoned commercial or industrial areas ” means those
areas which are not zoned by state or local law, regulation , or
ordinance, and on whi ch there is located one or more perm anent
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 highw ay extending outward six hundred (600) feet from
and beyond the edge of such activity on both sides of the highway.
Provided, however, the unzoned area shall not include land on the
opposite 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 federal-aid primary highways, which land is deemed scenic
by an appropriate agency of the state.
All measurements sha ll be from the outer edges of the regularly
used buildings, parking lots, storage , or processing areas of the
SENATE FLOOR VERSION - SB984 SFLR Page 3
(Bold face denotes Committee Amendments) 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
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 inc lude 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)
a. Within 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 to
exist;, or
(2)
b. Within 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) 5. “Commercial and industrial activities ” means those
activities, clearly visible from the main traveled way, generally
recognized as commercial or industrial by zoning authorities in this
state, except that none of the following shall be considered
commercial or industrial:
(1)
SENATE FLOOR VERSION - SB984 SFLR Page 4
(Bold face denotes Committee Amendments) 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
a. Agricultural agricultural, forestry, ranching,
grazing, farming, and related activities, including,
but not limited to, wayside fresh produce stands ;,
(2)
b. Outdoor outdoor advertising structures ;,
(3)
c. Transient transient or temporary activities ;,
(4)
d. Activities activities more than six hundred sixty
(660) feet from the nearest edge of the right -of-way;,
(5)
e. Activities activities conducted in a building
principally used as a residence ;, and
(6)
f. Railroad railroad tracks and minor sidings .;
(f) 6. “Official signs” means signs and notices erected and
maintained by public officers or public 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 o r responsibility.;
(g) 7. “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, cult ural, educational, and
SENATE FLOOR VERSION - SB984 SFLR Page 5
(Bold face denotes Committee Amendments) 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
religious sites, and areas of natural scenic beauty or naturally
suited for outdoor recreation, deemed to be in the interest of the
traveling public.;
(h) 8. “On-premise activities signs ” means signs advertising
activities conducted upon the property on which the signs are
located.;
(i) 9. “On-premise sale or lease signs ” means signs advertising
the sale or lease of property on which they are located .;
(j) 10. “Interstate highway” means any highway at any time
officially designated a part of the National System of In terstate
and Defense Highways by the Department and approved by the
appropriate authority of the federal government .;
(k) 11. “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) 12. “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 tra veled way of a
nondivided highway.;
(m) 13. “Adjacent area” or “control area” means the area 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, whic h six hundred sixty-foot six-
hundred-sixty-foot distance shall be measured horizontally along a
SENATE FLOOR VERSION - SB984 SFLR Page 6
(Bold face denotes Committee Amendments) 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
line perpendicular 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 o n any
interstate or primary highway .;
(n) 14. “Business area” means any part of a control area which
is:
(1)
a. Within 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 state ;, or
(2)
b. Not not so zoned, but which constitutes an unzoned
commercial or industrial area as herein defined .;
(o) 15. “Department” means the Department of Transportation of
the State of Oklahoma . this state;
(p) 16. “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) 17. “Visible” means capable of being seen without visual
aid by a person of normal visual acuity .;
SENATE FLOOR VERSION - SB984 SFLR Page 7
(Bold face denotes Committee Amendments) 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
(r) 18. “License” means the privilege to do business in the
State of Oklahoma this state having been granted by an official
agency.;
(s) 19. “Permit” means the privilege to erect a sign or signs
in an individual location within the State of Oklahoma this state
having been granted by an official agency .;
(t) 20. “License fee” means the monetary consideration paid for
the privilege of doing busin ess in the State of Oklahoma . this
state;
(u) 21. “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 . this state;
(v) 22. “Urban area” means an urbanized ar ea 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 designated
by the United States 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 United States
Bureau of the Census .;
(w) 23. “Relocation permit” means a permit issued pursuant to
the provisions of subparagraph (d) d of paragraph (3) 3 of Section
SENATE FLOOR VERSION - SB984 SFLR Page 8
(Bold face denotes Committee Amendments) 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
1275 of this title. A relocation permit shall have precedence ov er
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 municipalitie s with a
population in excess of fiv e 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 those areas in which a
municipality or county has lawfully enacted a prohibition on the
erection of an outdoor advertising sign. This section shall not
prohibit a registered sign owner from seeking just compensation
through a legal proceeding .; and
24. “Playground” means an outdoor space that contains
permanently affixed playground equipment where the pr imary use is
for children to play, excluding those spaces where playground
equipment is an accessory use to a commercial enterprise or is
located on a privately owned residential property for use by the
resident.
SECTION 2. This act shall become effective November 1, 2025.
COMMITTEE REPORT BY: COMMITTEE ON AERONAUTICS AND TRANSPORTATION
February 24, 2025 - DO PASS