March 24, 2026
The Honorable Tony Evers
Governor of Wisconsin
P. O. Box 7863
Madison, Wisconsin 53707
RE: Request for Veto of AB 502, Nonconforming Outdoor Advertising Signs
Dear Governor Evers,
The Board of Directors of Scenic Wisconsin strongly opposes Assembly Bill 502 and requests thar you veto the bill. AB 502 creates a special status for outdoor advertising signs (billboards) under Wisconsin’s eminent domain law. It also allows billboards that are non-conforming under local ordinances to be relocated if they are affected by transportation projects.
The Scenic Wisconsin Board is in a unique position to offer informed comment on these kinds of legislation. We organized in 2000 as an affiliate of Scenic America, and we have closely followed legislation affecting billboards for 25 years.
We believe AB 502 is not in the public’s interest. We believe the whole premise of the bill is misguided. By changing the eminent domain statutes to give greater advantages to the owners of billboards, it punishes local communities for enacting sign ordinances that place limits on billboards or bans them entirely. This will likely increase the cost and difficulty of dealing with billboards, and put other impacted property owners at an unfair disadvantage.
State law allows municipalities to determine specific requirements for billboards that reflect their own community values. These include height limits, size limits, setback requirements, spacing requirements and limits on lighting. Local ordinances have saved the state and other funding sources money by avoiding costly billboard buyouts. Communities should be thanked, not punished.
In addition, AB 502 undermines the meaning of a non-conforming sign, by allowing it to be moved within a community, while retaining its non-conforming status. Many billboards would be upgraded or replaced in the process of relocations, resulting in new and improved, so called, ‘non-conforming’ signs. The billboard industry wants to move billboards around for its own benefit, with little or no consideration of the impact on nearby property owners or on the municipality.
Hundreds of billboards are on leased lands. Those leases function like easements, yet they are not recorded and transparent like other encumbrances on land. There are parcels that property owners would like to develop and improve but cannot because of a controlling billboard lease. Yet AB 502 does nothing to address this problem.
We have included with this letter the testimony from the League of Wisconsin Municipalities presented at the November 12, 2025, public hearing. The League’s testimony does an excellent job of analyzing AB 502’s impact on the eminent domain statutes and the negative impacts the bill will have on municipalities throughout the state. In addition, we have also attached the professional analysis of the bill by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, dated November 19, 2025, as well as testimony from Scenic America.
We respectfully urge a veto of AB 502.
Respectfully,
Scenic Wisconsin Board Members
Gary Goyke, Madison, President.
Charles Mitchell, Wauwatosa, Founder
Shirley Brabender Mattox, Oshkosh
Jason Hass, Milwaukee
Scott Becher, Neenah
Jay Salinas, Reedsburg
Rich Eggleston, Fitchburg
Charles Clemence, La Crosse
Vernie Smith, Viroqua