Public Law 71–399

That the Commissioners of the District of Columbia be, and they are hereby, authorized and empowered after public hearings to make and to enforce such regulations as they may deem advisable to (in so far as necessary to promote the public health, safety, morals, and welfare) control, restrict, and govern the erection, hanging, placing, painting, display, and maintenance of all outdoor signs and other forms of exterior advertising on public ways and public space under their control and on private property within public view within the

Force and effect.

District of Columbia, and such regulations as may be promulgated hereunder shall have the force and effect of law.

Sec. 2.

No person, persons, firm, or corporation shall engage in the business of erecting, hanging, placing, painting, displaying, or maintaining any sign for outdoor display within the District of Columbia without first having obtained a license therefor from the Superintendent of Licenses of the District of Columbia, which license

Proviso.

Fees therefor.

Rejection of license application.

shall bear an identification number: Provided, That no license shall issue without the prepayment of $5 to the collector of taxes of the District of Columbia, and an annual fee of $5 thereafter for each succeeding year. For good cause shown the Commissioners of the District of Columbia shall have the power to reject any application for a license hereunder, or, where license has been issued, to revoke it.

Sec. 3.

That paragraph 39 of the Act of July 1, 1902 (32 Stat. L. pt. 1, pp. 627–628), relating to billposters and signs in the District of Columbia, be, and the same is hereby, repealed.

Sec. 4.

Any person, persons, firm, or corporation, whether as principal, agent, or employee, violating this Act or any of the regulations promulgated pursuant to said Act shall, upon conviction thereof in the police court of the District of Columbia, be fined not less than $5 nor more than $200 for each and every offense, and a like fine shall be imposed for each and every day thereafter

Proviso.

Publication of regulations.

that such violation of law shall continue: Provided, That the regulations promulgated hereunder shall be printed in one of the daily newspapers published in the District of Columbia, and no penalty prescribed for the violation of said regulations shall be enforced until thirty days after the publication of such regulations.