BILLBOARD PLAN LEAVES TOO MANY QUESTIONS

It looks as though Missouri voters will be asked in November to enact a law that would eliminate highway billboards by prohibiting construction, replacement and relocation of billboards along the state's interstate and primary highways.

A group called Save Our Scenery Committee in Columbia has collected more than 130,000 signatures in its initiative effort to get the issue on the November ballot, and only 72,000 valid signatures are necessary to put it to a vote. Save Our Scenery Committee plans to submit the petitions to the secretary of state's office Tuesday, and with verification of the signatures the initiative will be ordered to a vote.

The same group tried unsuccessfully in 1998 to get a constitutional amendment placed on the ballot that would prohibit billboards but fell short of the required number of signatures. This time, with almost 50,000 more signatures than needed, it appears certain that the measure will be put to a vote. A simple majority would be needed for passage.

Eliminating unsightly billboards along highways sounds like a good idea, but voters should consider the consequences. In effect, the proposal could effectively put billboard companies in the state out of business, and a federal law known as the Highway Beautification Act could come into play, requiring the state to pay millions of dollars to compensate billboard companies and property owners for the forced removal of billboards.

An attorney for the billboard industry estimates the state's cost could be $100 million for removal of about 3,700 non-conforming billboards, while the campaign director of Save Our Scenery and the director of the Missouri Department of Transportation say existing billboards would not have to go. The industry's attorney says they are wrong.

The attorney also says that on top of the $100 million, landowners would be entitled to $30 million to $40 million for the loss of revenue from the leasing of land for the lost signs. He says statewide Missouri's 20 billboard companies pay $12 million to $15 million a year in lease payments to property owners.

Those figures show that the billboard industry in Missouri is substantial, and the measure would have an overwhelmingly detrimental effect not only on the industry but the people who lease land for billboards and the state.

Voters need answers to these questions before being able to decide whether the measure is good for Missouri. Too often voters are asked to approve measures that when enacted turn out not to accomplish what Missourians thought they would accomplish -- the state pay and ethics commissions among them -- and the billboard proposition could be another one.