Gary J. English: State police should enforce illegal sign laws
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According to the article “Bill to boost funding for road and bridge projects advances in Pa. House” (May 22, TribLIVE), the House Transportation Committee proposes “(reducing) the annual appropriation taken out of the Motor License Fund to support the operations of the Pennsylvania State Police by $100 million until it reaches zero in 2027-28.”
The plan “also provides for other revenue sources that would be used to replace the funding for state police and place it in a special account called the Public Safety and Protection Fund. The proposed new sources of funding include a portion of the funding from the state tax on liquor and tobacco products as well as a portion of the sales and use tax from motor vehicle sales.”
The original purpose of the gas tax was to pay for road and bridge projects, not the state police. This funding scheme is robbing Peter to pay Paul by siphoning existing revenue streams (liquor, tobacco and a portion of the sales and use tax) to replace the state police funding. So what gets shortchanged with this revenue swap already designated for other commitments in government?
Rather than playing the shell game, the commonwealth should utilize untapped revenue sources awaiting harvest that would not swap, create or raise existing taxes.
Title 36, §425 is one such revenue stream. The law expressly prohibits the posting of any signage on state road rights-of-way without the written consent from PennDOT, which is never obtained. Twice a year our roads are littered with illegal campaign signs that accompany fly-by-night businesses like “We Buy Houses” and “Medical Marijuana.” The penalty is sign removal, which is rarely done and comes with a fine of no less than $4 and a maximum not to exceed $20, which is obviously not a deterrent.
Title 75, § 3709 addresses illegal signage that comes with a greater penalty, a $300 fine as seen by the green and white littering signs throughout the commonwealth. The state House is proposing to increase the fine to $2,000 with House Bill 95. Although I am not averse to increasing the fine, the new legislation means little unless the current law is actually enforced.
At present, half of the fines are distributed to the agency which brought the action to enforce the law. The other half is allocated to PennDOT to promote unsuccessful litter control programs.
I have repeatedly collected and deposited approximately 700 illegal signs on PennDOT’s front door for their lackadaisical enforcement. Each time my efforts had the potential to gross $210,000 in revenue while cleaning up the community.
Now is the opportunity to swap illegal sign enforcement from PennDOT to the state police. The $300 fines would make the state police self-sufficient.
It’s time to think outside the box and offer real solutions.
Gary J. English is a former Franklin Regional School Board member.