Political signs OK'd for apartment renters (California)

[Kadie]

Political signs OK'd for apartment renters
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, September 30, 2011

(09-30) 15:38 PDT Sacramento -- Just in time for campaign season, Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation Friday that will allow California apartment-dwellers to post political signs on their windows, doors and balconies, a measure his predecessor had vetoed.

SB337 by Sen. Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego, effective in January, lets tenants display signs of up to 6 square feet that relate to an issue on the ballot or pending before a public agency.

Current state law allows residents of condominiums and mobile home parks to put up political signs, but authorizes landlords to prohibit sign-posting by apartment renters.

In a state Supreme Court opinion in 2001, then-Chief Justice Ronald George suggested that a tenant's display of political signs was protected by the right of free speech under the California Constitution. Unlike the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment, which applies only to the government, the California charter curbs limits that businesses place on free expression, like protests at shopping malls.

But a bill to let renters post signs was vetoed in 2006 by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who said it would cast a cloud over "the rights of property owners to control the appearance of their property and protect the environment for other tenants."


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/30/BAEU1LBVC8.DTL#ixzz1ZUH5CHqh

[NYC_SKP]

1. That's the second terrific bill by Kehoe to pass this month.

the other restored incentives to installers of solar photovoltaic systems!

:bounce:

[onehandle]

2. 'the rights of property owners'

Property owners are the only 'true' Americans.