A bill that would have allowed school boards to sell advertising on the exterior of school buses failed Friday in committee.

HB393, sponsored by Rep. Jim Bird, R-West Jordan, would have prohibited ads about alcohol, tobacco, drugs, gambling or sexual material and require that advertising be "age appropriate." The Utah Department of Transportation would have been charged with creating rules about how big and where the ads could be placed.

But members of the House Education Committee worried that people who saw the ads would assume the products were endorsed by schools. Some feared that students would be subjected to inappropriate messages, despite the bill's prohibitions.

"My sensibilities are offended visually and morally ... is there nothing sacred?" said Rep. Carol Spackman Moss, D-Holladay, of the spectre of children riding on a bus plastered with fast food ads. "I don't like the image even thinking about it."

The bill was endorsed by the Utah School Boards Association. But a spokesman for the Utah Outdoor Advertising Association complained such ads would compete unfairly with private enterprise.

In the end, lawmakers were not swayed by the prospect of school boards being able to raise up to $500,000 a year through bus ads.

Rep. Craig Frank, R-Cedar Hills, said the idea made as much sense as allowing bail bond companies to advertise on Utah Highway Patrol cars.

Anne Wilson