On February 20, 2025, lawmakers introduced West Virginia House Bill 2676, a bill that would completely destroy necessary restrictions on outdoor advertising. It modifies the original Code of West Virginia, which was a model for progressive billboard regulations.

West Virginia House Bill 2676 (2025) would allow the outdoor advertising industry full access to West Virginia’s most cherished lands and forcing communities to bear the brunt of the scenic blight by eliminating the following restrictions on billboard location, size, and configuration:

• No signs can be erected within five hundred feet of any church, school, cemetery, public park, public reservation, public playground or state or national forest.
• No sign structure with more than one face, including stacked signs and side-by-side signs, each having an area of more than 300 square feet.
• No billboards with an area greater than six hundred seventy-two square feet.
• No more than one sign structure is permitted at a location.

If voted into law, House Bill 2676 would open the floodgates for excessive outdoor advertising, leading to:

• Billboards next to schools, parks, and cemeteries, exposing children and vulnerable populations to disruptive advertising in spaces meant for learning, play, and reflection. Studies have shown that access to green spaces is essential for mental health, reducing stress, improving cognitive function, and fostering well-being. Billboard encroachment on these areas diminishes their restorative benefits and replaces natural beauty with commercial intrusion.
• Communities overwhelmed with visual clutter by increasing the size and number of billboards. Outdoor advertising stacking would create imposing images that take over the landscape more than small signs. This increase of structures per location could also be a distraction for drivers, impacting the safety of pedestrians and drivers alike.

The presence of rampant advertising in neighborhoods can lead to visual degradation and decreased quality of life without proper legislation. The intention to weaken West Virginia’s previous code reflects disregard for community integrity and misguided priorities for the benefit of marketing.

Scenic America opposes West Virginia House Bill 2676 (2025) and believes the original West Virginia code should be left intact because it is a comprehensive measure against excessive and unnecessary advertising activity in areas that should be respected and maintained. This terrible bill puts West Virginia’s natural beauty and resources, its citizens’ quality of life, and the state’s tourism appeal at risk.