HB 744 -- TRANSPORTATION

SPONSOR:  St. Onge

COMMITTEE ACTION:  Voted "do pass - federal mandate" by the
Committee on Transportation by a vote of 10 to 0.

This bill authorizes the Highways and Transportation Commission
to void billboard permits without paying compensation under the
following situations:

(1)  When there has been any misrepresentation of a material fact
by the applicant on a permit application and the sign is removed
under law;

(2)  When the commission determines that a change has been made
to a conforming sign by the owner and the sign has been removed
under law; or

(3)  When the commission determines that a substantial change has
been made to a nonconforming sign by the sign owner so that the
sign's nonconforming status was terminated and the sign was
removed under the commission's administrative rules for
maintenance of nonconforming signs.

The commission may also void any permit when it determines that a
permit has been erroneously issued by any Department of
Transportation staff member in violation of any state law or
administrative rule.  The billboard must be subject to removal,
and compensation must be paid pursuant to law.

Any person convicted of driving while out of service will be
disqualified from operating a commercial motor vehicle in the
manner specified by federal regulations.

The expungement of a minor in possession violation for a holder
of a commercial driver's license or a person operating a
commercial motor vehicle at the time of the offense is
prohibited.  No records can be expunged for commercial driver's
license holders until three years after the date of the
suspension or revocation if the person was holding a commercial
driver's license at the time of the offense or who have been
convicted of or pled guilty to an offense where the person's
blood-alcohol content is .04 or above.

Failure to appear by a commercial license holder or operator of a
commercial motor vehicle is included as a commercial driver's
license offense requiring indefinite suspension until he or she
is in compliance.

FISCAL NOTE:  No impact on state funds in FY 2008, FY 2009, and
FY 2010.

PROPONENTS:  Supporters say that areas of program deficiencies
were identified during the 2004 CDL Compliance Review including
failure to appear/pay for traffic violations (49 CFR 384.105),
CDL exemption (49 CFR 384.204), disqualification for driving
while out-of-service conviction (49 CFR 384.213), zero tolerance
(49 CFR 384.225), and minor in possession violation (49 CFR
384.225).  Missouri is also in violation of the Highway
Beautification Act because of the deficiencies in its laws.
Failure to correct this problem will result in referral of this
matter to the Administrator of the federal Highway Administration
with the recommendation that Missouri be penalized with a loss of
federal aid for highways for failing to effectively control
outdoor advertising.

Testifying for the bill were Representative Onder on behalf of
Representative St. Onge; Department of Transportation; Department
of Revenue; Missouri Motor Carriers Association; and Missouri
Outdoor Advertising Association.

OPPONENTS:  There was no opposition voiced to the committee.

Missouri House of Representatives
94th General Assembly, 1st Regular Session
Last Updated July 25, 2007 at 11:20 am