LePage Administration Increases Efforts to Remove Political Signs Illegally Placed Within a Public Right-Of-Way

Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page.

LePage Administration Increases Efforts to Remove Political Signs Illegally Placed Within a Public Right-Of-Way

October 14, 2016

For Immediate Release: Friday, October 14, 2016
Contact: Adrienne Bennett, Press Secretary, 207-287-2531

AUGUSTA – Due to the significant amount of illegally placed signs on public right-of-ways around the State of Maine, Governor Paul R. LePage has asked the Maine Department of Transportation to increase enforcement and removal of political signs that do not meet the law.

Many constituents have contacted the Administration in the last few weeks expressing their concerns that many campaigns are not following the new sign law.

“After receiving many complaints from the public about illegally placed signs, I have asked the Maine Department of Transportation to increase their enforcement of this new law,” said Governor LePage. “Our Administration has and will continue to enforce this law fairly for all political campaigns.”

Earlier this year, the Legislature passed a new law with specific requirements for displaying political signs along Maine’s roads. The new law allows political signs to be placed along a public right-of-way for up to six weeks during a calendar year and signs bearing the same or substantially the same message may be placed no closer than 30 feet from one another.

Each sign may not exceed 4 feet by 8 feet in size. Further, the new law requires political sign owners to place their name and contact information on each sign, as well as the six-week time frame for which the sign owner intends to have the sign up. These changes were made to conform with a recent Supreme Court ruling and to mitigate public concerns about the overall density of signs along the roadway. To be clear, this law does not prohibit political signs on private property.

The Maine Department of Transportation will continue to notify a campaign if a sign does not follow the law and give them a short period of time to come into compliance. If the campaign does not follow this directive, the Department will remove the sign and notify the campaign that it has been removed and is available for pick up at a Department facility.

A link to the new law is below.

http://legislature.maine.gov/legis/bills/bills_127th/chapters/PUBLIC403.asp

 

CONNECT WITH GOVERNOR LEPAGE:
Sign up for email updates Facebook Twitter
YouTube Flicker

###