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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
NOTICE OF EMERGENCY AND PROPOSED RULEMAKING
The Director of the D.C. Department of Transportation pursuant to the authority set forth in §§ 6(b), and 7 of the Department of Transportation Establishment Act of 2002, effective May 21, 2002 (D.C. Law 14-137, D.C. Official Code §§ 50-921.05(b), and 50-921.06); Section 422 of the District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act of 1973, approved December 24, 1973 (87 Stat. 790; D.C. Official Code 1-204.22); Title VI of the Fiscal Year 1997 Budget Support Act of 1996, effective April 9, 1997 (D.C. Law 11-198; D.C. Official Code §§ 10-1141.01 et seq.); and Mayor’s Order 96-8, 43 DCR 615 (February 9, 1996), hereby gives notice of the intent to adopt the following rules to amend Chapter 1 of Title 24 of the District of Columbia Municipal Regulations. The emergency and proposed rules will allow all signs that are not lewd, indecent, or vulgar, or do not pictorially represent the commission of or the attempt to commit any crime to be posted on a structure in public space for sixty (60) days, and a sign, advertisement, or poster related to a specific event may be affixed any time prior to an event but shall be removed no later than thirty (30) days following the event for which it is advertising or publicizing.
This emergency rulemaking is necessitated by the immediate need to address the continuing threat to the public welfare posed by an unequal treatment of non-commercial advertising in the public space. This emergency rule was adopted on November 2, 2009, and became effective immediately. This emergency rule will remain in effect for up to one hundred twenty (120) days, unless earlier superseded by a notice of final rulemaking.
Final rulemaking action to adopt these amendments shall be taken in not less than fifteen (15) days. Pursuant to D.C. Official Code § 2-505, final rulemaking action may be made less than thirty (30) days from publication of proposed rulemaking upon a showing of good cause. The full comment period is not necessary because these rules simply provide a technical amendment to retain the intent of the Council when it passed the Street Sign Regulation Amendment Act of 1979, D.C. Law 3-50, 26 DCR 2733 (December 21, 1979), insofar as the rulemaking removes a time limit distinction that exists between political and non-political advertising that has raised First Amendment concerns. This shortened review period will help expedite mitigation of any constitutional concerns.
Title 24 DCMR, Chapter 1, OCCUPATION AND USE OF PUBLIC SPACE, Section 108, SIGNS, POSTERS, AND PLACARDS, is amended as follows:
Subsections 108.5 and 108.6 are amended to read as follows:
108.5 A sign, advertisement, or poster not related to a specific event shall be affixed for no more than sixty (60) days.
108.6 A sign, advertisement, or poster related to a specific event may be affixed any time prior to the event but shall be removed no later than thirty (30) days following the event to which it is related.
All persons interested in commenting on the subject matter in this proposed rulemaking may file comments in writing, not later than fifteen (15) days after the publication of this notice in the D.C. Register, with Karina Ricks, Associate Director, District Department of Transportation, 2000 14th Street, N.W., 7th Floor, Washington, D.C. 20009. Comments may also be sent electronically to publicspace.committee@dc.gov . Copies of this proposal are available, at cost, by writing to the above address, and are also available electronically, at no cost, on the District Department of Transportation website at www.ddot.dc.gov.
