City of Columbus v. Georgia Department of Transportation

Melton, Justice.

This is the third appearance of this statutory matter before this Court. This appeal, as did the prior two, revolves around the constitutionality of OCGA § 32-6-75.3, which allows vegetation, including trees, to be removed in order to facilitate billboard advertising under specific circumstances and with remuneration to the State for removed trees. Although this Court originally found that a prior version of the statute violated the gratuities clause of the state constitution, Garden Club of Georgia v. Shackelford, 266 Ga. 24 (463 SE2d 470) (1995) (Garden Club I), we later…