Amended in Assembly April 13, 2016

Amended in Assembly March 18, 2016

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 2559

Introduced by Assembly Member Frazier

February 19, 2016

An act to add Section begin delete 229.261 end delete begin insert 101.16 end insert to the Streets and Highways Code, relating to highways.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 2559, as amended, Frazier. begin delete Tourist-oriented directional signs: visitor centers. end delete begin insert Visitor centers: guide signs. end insert

begin insert

Existing law requires the Department of Transportation to adopt rules and regulations that allow the placement, near exits on freeways located in rural areas, of information signs identifying specific roadside businesses that offer fuel, food, lodging, camping services, approved 24-hour pharmacy services, or approved attractions, and that prescribe the standards for those signs. Existing law also authorizes the department, among other things, to place and maintain, or cause to be placed and maintained, signs on state highways directing motorists to communities within the geographical boundaries of a city, county, or city and county if specified conditions are satisfied.

end insert begin insert

This bill would require the department to authorize guide signs for any visitor’s center seeking a sign if the visitor center is located within 2 miles from the highway intersection.

end insert begin delete

Existing law authorizes the Department of Transportation to administer a program for the placement of tourist-oriented directional signs for businesses, attractions, or facilities near state highways in nonurbanized areas. Existing law specifies various requirements for placement of these signs, including that the maximum distance from a highway intersection to an attraction or facility may generally not exceed 10 miles, but may not exceed 3 miles in the case of food or lodging facilities.

end delete begin delete

This bill would require the department to authorize under these provisions tourist-oriented directional signs for any visitor’s center seeking a sign if the visitor center is located within 2 miles from the highway intersection and that authorization otherwise meets the requirements of these provisions.

end delete

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

begin insert

begin insert SECTION end insert begin insert 1 end insert begin insert . end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 101.16 is added to the end insert begin insert Streets and
Highways Code end insert begin insert , to read: end insert

begin insert

begin insert 101.16. end insert   

Notwithstanding Section 21401 of the Vehicle Code,
the department shall authorize guide signs for any visitor’s center
seeking a sign if the visitor center is located within two miles from
the highway intersection.

end insert

begin delete

SECTION 1.  

Section 229.261 is added to the Streets and
Highways Code, to read:

229.261.  

The department shall authorize under this chapter
tourist-oriented directional signs for any visitor’s center seeking
a sign if the visitor center is located within two miles from the
highway intersection and that authorization otherwise meets the
requirements of this chapter.

end delete