Will Multiple-Message Electronic Billboards Spread Along Kentucky's Highways?
« Latest News
Pending before the Supreme Court of Kentucky is a request by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet that the high court grant discretionary review of a Court of Appeals decision that held Kentucky?s billboard law to be unconstitutional. At issue in the cases is whether the Transportation Cabinet can prohibit electronic multiple-message billboards that change messages approximately 7 times a minute.
In two related cases, Lamar Advantage GP Company LLC v. Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and Lewisburg Enterprises, LLC v. KTC, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals rejected a Franklin Circuit Court decision finding that the billboards violated state law and regulations by being illuminated with intermittent lights.
The Court of Appeals panel rested the reversal of the Circuit Court decision on a 1996 Kentucky Supreme Court case that found unconstitutional a portion of the Billboard Act generally prohibiting billboards illuminated with flashing, intermittent, or moving lights, but allowing them where they provided only public service information. The Supreme Court found in the 1996 case of Flying J Travel Plaza et al. v. Commonwealth, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet that content-based distinction to be violative of the First Amendment, while noting that the state could, for reasons of public safety and aesthetics, limit multiple-message electronic billboards in a content-neutral manner.
Having ruled in 1964 that the Kentucky Billboard Act was constitutional, the Kentucky Supreme Court has the opportunity to clarify whether the Flying J decision rejecting content-based regulation of electronic billboards, was intended to eliminate all controls on the use of flashing or intermittently-lit multiple message boards, or whether the decision was limited to striking down the content-based limits, and that Cabinets content-neutral regulation in this instance is lawful.
The effect of the Court of Appeals decision is to undercut the state Cabinets ability to regulate this new billboard message technology for reasons of highway safety and aesthetics. The Kentucky Supreme Court can restore that ability by clarifying that the 1996 Flying J case set aside only so much of the law as made content-based distinctions.
Supporting KRC
Thank you for your interest in Kentucky's environmental and public health. Individual contributions from donors across the Commonwealth make it possible for KRC to do its work every day, including advancing environmental, energy, and public health policies in Kentucky.
In two related cases, Lamar Advantage GP Company LLC v. Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and Lewisburg Enterprises, LLC v. KTC, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals rejected a Franklin Circuit Court decision finding that the billboards violated state law and regulations by being illuminated with intermittent lights.
The Court of Appeals panel rested the reversal of the Circuit Court decision on a 1996 Kentucky Supreme Court case that found unconstitutional a portion of the Billboard Act generally prohibiting billboards illuminated with flashing, intermittent, or moving lights, but allowing them where they provided only public service information. The Supreme Court found in the 1996 case of Flying J Travel Plaza et al. v. Commonwealth, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet that content-based distinction to be violative of the First Amendment, while noting that the state could, for reasons of public safety and aesthetics, limit multiple-message electronic billboards in a content-neutral manner.
Having ruled in 1964 that the Kentucky Billboard Act was constitutional, the Kentucky Supreme Court has the opportunity to clarify whether the Flying J decision rejecting content-based regulation of electronic billboards, was intended to eliminate all controls on the use of flashing or intermittently-lit multiple message boards, or whether the decision was limited to striking down the content-based limits, and that Cabinets content-neutral regulation in this instance is lawful.
The effect of the Court of Appeals decision is to undercut the state Cabinets ability to regulate this new billboard message technology for reasons of highway safety and aesthetics. The Kentucky Supreme Court can restore that ability by clarifying that the 1996 Flying J case set aside only so much of the law as made content-based distinctions.
Supporting KRC
Thank you for your interest in Kentucky's environmental and public health. Individual contributions from donors across the Commonwealth make it possible for KRC to do its work every day, including advancing environmental, energy, and public health policies in Kentucky.
If you're interested in making an investment in KRC, visit https://www.kyrc.org/get-involved/donate
By Kentucky Resources Council
on 01/24/2013 5:32 PM
« Latest News
The Kentucky Resources Council is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the conservation and prudent use of Kentucky’s natural resources. Since 1984, we have dedicated ourselves to protecting Kentucky’s land, air, water, and communities.