Effort to alter oversight of outdoor ad rebuilding halted

WASHINGTON -- The billboard industry and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada suffered a setback last week when Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., blocked an effort to end federal regulation of the reconstruction of outdoor advertisements.

After receiving a letter from Reid saying the billboard provision was "a matter of personal importance," the Senate Appropriations Committee added a tighter version of Reid's amendment to the Iraq war funding bill.

If the language had remained in the bill, owners of billboards destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and other storms could have rebuilt their signs even if they no longer conformed with guidelines in the federal 1965 Highway Beautification Act.

This would have included about 3,000 billboards in Tennessee, and Alexander described Reid's provision as a "big wet kiss" for the outdoor sign industry.

Alexander raised a point of order, saying Senate rules forbid legislative language in appropriations bills.

Reid did not object, and the billboard provision was stricken.

"We were extremely happy that Senator Alexander stepped up and removed this provision from the bill because we think the Reid provision would have undermined the core principle of the Highway Beautification Act," said Kevin Fry, president of Scenic America, a nonprofit group aiming to preservecommunities and roadways' scenic qualities.

Fry said he hoped Reid wouldn't try again.

"We have yet to determine what steps, if any, will be taken next," Reid spokesman Jon Summers said.