Hawaii has been a state with a ban on billboards, but The Honolulu Star-Advertiser is reporting that proposed legislation to allow billboards and other large messaging signs in the New Aloha Stadium Entertainment District (NASED) passed first reading in the state Senate last Wednesday. Senate Bill 3197 would make NASED exempt from long-standing Hawaii state law that prohibits such in most cases. One of the bill’s primary sponsors said this would make development in the 98-acre district more attractive to potential builders.

“It will allow for advertising on the sides of buildings,” said state Sen. Glenn Wakai at Thursday’s monthly meeting of the Aloha Stadium Authority. “It will be perfectly aligned with the RFP.”

Proponents of the proposal expect opposition to the bill from The Outdoor Circle, which “spearheaded legal efforts to ban billboards throughout Hawaii,” in 1927, and was also instrumental in developing law to control size and location of signs 30 years later, according to the group’s website.

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