A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT reinstating the moratorium on further billboards along interstate 40 in north carolina from the orange‑alamance county line to the corporate limits of the city of wilmington.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  The Joint Legislative Transportation Oversight Committee shall study whether the additional erection of outdoor advertising along the portion of Interstate Highway 40 from the Orange‑Alamance county line to the municipal limits of the City of Wilmington should be prohibited. The Committee shall examine the issue with regard to outdoor advertising as defined in G.S. 136‑128(3), that is visible and intended to be read from the highway right‑of‑way. The Committee shall also study the advisability of the Department of Transportation allowing owners of billboards to enter upon the right‑of‑way and destroy vegetation that might obscure their advertising. The Committee shall report its findings and recommendations to the 2005 Regular Session of the General Assembly. Pending the report of the Committee, a moratorium is imposed on the erection of new outdoor advertising along the portion of Interstate Highway 40 from the Orange‑Alamance county line to the municipal limits of the City of Wilmington. The moratorium imposed by this section shall not apply to outdoor advertising described in G.S. 136‑129(1), (2), or (3). The moratorium shall expire 
July 1, 2005.
SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.