§17-22-1. Legislative finding.

The Legislature hereby finds and declares: (a) That outdoor advertising is a legitimate, commercial use of private property adjacent to roads and highways; (b) that outdoor advertising is an integral part of the business and marketing function and an established segment of the national economy which serves to promote and protect private investments in commerce and industry; and (c) that the erection and maintenance of outdoor advertising signs, displays and devices in areas adjacent to federal-aid interstate and primary highways should be regulated in order to protect the public investment in such highways, to promote the recreational value of public travel, to preserve natural beauty and to promote the reasonable, orderly and effective display of such signs, displays and devices.

The Legislature further finds and declares that fiscal actualities reflect that the people of the State of West Virginia would suffer economically if the state failed to participate fully in the allocation and apportionment of federal-aid highway funds, more specifically that a reduction in federal-aid highway funds would necessitate increased local taxation to support and maintain the highway program and system, and that it is the intention of this bill, among other things, to provide a statutory basis for regulation of outdoor advertising consistent with the public policy relating to areas adjacent to federal-aid interstate and primary highways declared by the Congress of the United States, in Title 23, United States Code, and that the economic benefit resulting from full participation in the federal highway program would constitute a benefit to the community as a whole.