It was 40 years ago that Vermont first passed its anti-billboard law and it is a sad irony that the legislature has taken a step back in time with a sly eleventh-hour amendment to the state transportation bill.

Make no doubt about it: the hand-painted mural barnside along Route 5 exhorting visitors to discover Bellows Falls is charming and Vermont-esque. But it was illegal—at least until the legislature slipped in a loophole to allow the mural to stay. The Vermont Travel Information Council was created in 1968. Since then it has been the arbiter of how Vermont’s highways are signed to assist tourists and travelers in finding cultural and recreational attractions, services and amenities as they travel the state. The council reviewed the Bellows Falls mural and determined that it was inappropriate based on existing standards that are applied to all signs along our highways.

Is it a mural or a blatant attempt to distort Vermont’s billboard law? Photo courtesy of Paul Larochelle

The local Windham County lawmakers, who wanted to help out their constituents, crafted language that was meant to be an effort narrow enough to let a sweet mural stay while prohibiting the typical hawking highway signs seen across 46 states in the nation. (Hawaii, Alaska and Maine are the only other states that ban billboards.)

The legislation says the exempt signs must be hand-painted on a structure that has been standing for at least 25 years. They must direct people to a designated downtown no more than three miles away.

Certainly that narrows the field, but it still leaves open at least 24 towns in Vermont (as of today) where these “murals” can be erected. If that’s not the proverbial camel’s nose under the tent, it at least is a classic case of how a new law can lead to unintended consequences. Communities and businesses are always looking for ways to attract customers, and they should be. But the same rules should apply to all communities and businesses, without specific exceptions for those who find the “sweet spot” carved in the Bellows Falls exception.

If there is one Golden Rule to lawmaking, it is to avoid creating exemptions that favor a few. The anti-billboard law is one of Vermont’s signature environmental achievements and it is certainly inappropriate to create a specific exemption to it—especially on the law’s 40th anniversary.

It is why the agencies of Natural Resources and Transportation, along with the Travel Information Council, opposed the exemption. It’s bad policy.

Vermont’s billboard law was the first of its kind and is beloved by Vermonters and visitors alike. It is part of our collective identity; unfortunately, the bargain lawmakers struck effectively silenced the debate on a subject near and dear to Vermonters’ hearts.

Time will tell what effects this exemption will have, but clearly the door is open to what people can classify as billboards. It’s a first significant alteration to the billboard law and it should be the last.

John Sayles is deputy secretary of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources.