An amendment to the state budget introduced by Dorchester State Rep. Dan Hunt could give local residents and their civic associations a greater say in the process to erect billboards in Dorchester and around the state. The measure seeks to combat the flurry of billboards being erected along Interstate 93 now that Boston City Hall no longer enforces a moratorium on new outdoor advertisements.

Hunt’s legislation was tacked on to the House’s budget bill and passed last week. It next goes to the State Senate, where Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry says she is prepared to take similar action.

“It slows the process down to allow for the civic groups and individuals to have an equal voice in the process,” said Hunt, who represents the 13th Suffolk district, including parts of Dorchester and one precinct in Quincy. “If this becomes law, we’ll no longer be beholden to the MBTA, who would subvert the process and who would put up their own billboards, and then block a billboard from becoming digital if the public wants it.”

Under Hunt’s proposal, new billboards would also be prohibited within 500 feet of public parks, historic monuments and open spaces. The state’s transportation agency— MassDOT— would be regulated under the state’s Office of Outdoor Advertising, and local approvals would be required.

“It doesn’t prevent MassDOT’s ability to raise revenue, it just gives locals the opportunity to have a say,” said Hunt.

“MassDOT and the MBTA’s enabling statutes include a requirement to identify other ways to generate revenue in addition to fares and tolls, one of which includes outdoor advertising,” said MassDOT spokesperson Michael Verseckes in response to the Reporter’s inquiry. “At this time, we are reviewing this amendment and are evaluating the potential effects this may have on the T or DOT’s programs for use of outdoor advertising as a revenue source.”

Both Hunt and State Sen. Linda Dorcena Forry said a billboard put up over JFK/UMass MBTA station and the nearby billboard off I-93 that was changed over to an electronic billboard are two recent changes made this fall without neighbors’ say. Under the proposed law, transitioning a paper billboard into a digital billboard would be treated the same as establishing a new billboard. It would not, however, apply to existing billboards.

Forry said on Tuesday that she will file corresponding legislation in the Senate. If it passes in the Senate, the proposal will be on its way to the governor’s desk to be signed into law.

“This allows the state and communities to work more collaboratively,”Forry said of Hunt’s legislation. “This issue is something that I’ve heard about for a long time.”

The proliferation of billboards along Dorchester’s stretch of the southeast expressway have long been a point of contention across Dorchester’s waterfront communities.

Joe Chiasson, a longtime billboard foe from Savin Hill, fought successfully in the 1980s to get companies looking to put up billboards to seek approvals first from civic associations before going before the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals for permits. A coalition of Dorchester’s civic association leaders gathered last November at Chaisson’s coordination to discuss support for another moratorium.

Hunt said he and City Councillor Frank Baker are working with ClearChannel, the advertising company that erected the digital billboard near Kosciuszko Circle against the community’s wishes, to take down other ClearChannel-owned billboards in the neighborhood in return.