March 12, 2026
The Honorable Tony Evers
Governor of Wisconsin
P. O. Box 7863
Madison, Wisconsin 53707
RE: Request for Veto of SB 525, Removal of Vegetation Obstructing Outdoor Advertising Signs
Dear Governor Evers,
Scenic Wisconsin strongly opposes Senate Bill 525 and requests your veto of that legislation. SB 525 significantly changes the process for vegetation removal for billboard visibility. We believe SB 525 would do lasting damage to the state’s ability to responsibly care for and maintain public highway right-of-way, and would further undermine the state’s highway beautification laws.
Scenic Wisconsin is in a unique position to offer informed comment on this kind of legislation. Organized in 2000 as an affiliate of Scenic America, we have closely followed billboard bills: opposing the bad ones and advocating for legislation that advances Wisconsin’s scenery. We have the institutional memory to constructively analyze bills within the context of Wisconsin’s highway beautification efforts.
We would draw your attention to the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) November 5, 2025 testimony opposing SB 525, which we have included with this letter. The DOT’s well-reasoned position paper clearly lays out the problems with the bill.
Here are the main reasons that Scenic Wisconsin opposes Senate Bill 525:
- The off-premises sign industry wants to clear-cut public right-of-way solely for billboard visibility. This fails to take into account other stakeholders. They feel that a 500-foot viewing window belongs solely to them. Other owners of highway frontage are not taken into account. And most importantly, there is no inherent right of a structure (in this case a billboard) to be seen or fully exposed to highway viewing.
- The industry wants to have permits last in perpetuity – and apply retroactively. SB 525 would allow the billboard owner to get a permit once for a site, then never have to get one again. And the bill would allow permits to be retroactive to 2012 and allow billboard owners to clear-cut that right-of-way with little to no DOT oversight.
- The industry wants to do it speculatively. This would allow billboard operators to scope out sites, get permits to clear-cut the public trees and vegetation and then construct billboards on previously unviewable sites. This could open up many new sites for billboards.
- The industry wants to clear-cut highway medians for billboard visibility. The bill would allow for cross viewing, providing a viewing window that can include vegetation between highway lanes, regardless of width or purpose.
In addition to the implications for safety and DOT’s ability to maintain its right-of-way, trees and vegetation provide other benefits for the public: beauty, erosion control, windbreaks, protection from headlight glare and other light intrusions, and sound and sight mitigation for neighboring properties. The bill ignores other stakeholders. Only the billboard owner matters.
Prior to 2005, the DOT handled vegetation requests through its State Highway Maintenance Manual (78.00 Vegetation Alteration for Site Exposure) – where we felt it should have remained. Since 2005, there have been legislative changes that have diminished DOT’s ability to fully regulate these requests in order to accommodate concerns of the billboard industry. These changes include 2005 Act 465, which created s.84.305, Stats., as well as 2011 Act 230 and 2013 Act 231 that amended the subsection at the request of the billboard industry.
If SB 525 is allowed to become law it will further degrade the DOT’s ability to manage public right-of-way, with lasting negative consequences. We urge a veto.
Thank you for your consideration of these comments.
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