California Assemblyman Mike Feuer, D-Los Angeles, is urging Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to withdraw a plan to allow advertising on overhead freeway signs, saying the risk to public safety trumps potential revenue.
Under the plan, billboard companies would replace digital displays that show Amber Alerts and traffic notices with sophisticated color screens that also carry advertisements. The state and billboard companies would share the revenue.
In a letter to the governor dated March 1, Feuer said the billboards would distract drivers and dilute the effectiveness of Amber Alerts and traffic notices.
“Revenue — however badly needed — should not come at the expense of public safety,” Feuer said.
The Department of Finance proposed the bill last month, calling for the state to contract out its highway signs for 20 years, according to The Sacramento Bee. It did not estimate how much money the plan would generate, but officials said it would help chip away at the state’s $19.9 billion deficit in 2010-11.
“The proposal faces significant hurdles, particularly obtaining a U.S. Department of Transportation waiver of federal highway regulations,” The Bee reports. Digital billboards are also increasingly controversial across the country, with states and the federal government considering regulation. Last year, Feuer authored legislation to ban new electronic billboards until 2012, but the bill failed in the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee.
