SB 61 was approved by the Utah Senate Business and Labor committee by a 6-2 vote.  The bill would do the following:

• Prohibit Utah municipalities or counties from from restricting digital billboards.
• Prohibit Utah municipalities from requiring a billboard company to take down a billboard for every digital billboard conversion.
• Permit Utah municipalities or counties to require a curfew on the operation of digital billboards between midnight and 6am if a digital billboard is within 150 feet of a residential area.
• Require an 8 second minimum flip on digital billboards.

Here are links to articles on the bill by the Salt Lake Tribune, KJZZ and KUER.

Insider’s take:  Opponents are claiming that this bill will make Utah into Las Vegas.  Not going to happen.  The number of billboards is unchanged by this legislation.  Digital billboards cost about $250,000 to install.  That’s about 4-5  times the cost of a regular billboard.   They will only go in the best locations which can justify the cost.  Opponents have also expressed concerns about light pollution. The digital billboard manufacturers have developed products to mitigate light pollution in surrounding residential neighborhoods.  A Media Resources product was successfully deployed in Bluffdale, Utah to mitigate resident’s concerns in 2019.

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