Senate votes-cities to share red-light camera money
L-R: Traffic in Balcones Heights, Red-Light Camera, warning sign
By Kristen Mack
Houston Chronicle
Austin — Houston and other cities that enforce red lights with cameras would get legislative authority to do so but would be forced to share resulting revenue, under separate bills that passed the Senate Tuesday.
Incorporating into state law permission to issue civil citations to red-light violators caught on camera would end the debate about whether cities have that right.
The provision requiring cities to spend some of the resulting revenue on trauma care and traffic safety is intended to discourage use of the cameras as a municipal revenue windfall.
"We ought to ensure cities don't use them as money-makers. We are taking some of the financial incentive away," said Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, who chairs the Transportation & Homeland Security Committee and sponsored the legislation.
"Most cities were not eager to share their money. But when faced with the reality that some members wanted to outlaw them altogether, they realized this was the best option on the table." Senate Bill 125 limits the amount of money cities can keep to the cost of maintaining and operating red-light cameras.
The rest must be split evenly between traffic safety and a regional trauma account, so money stays in the area where it is collected. Notes accompanying the bill did not estimate how much money might be involved.
'Up to the cities' Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, said the bill raises issues of local control. "It is up to those cities to decide what is in the best interest of its citizens," said Seliger, who along with fellow Republicans Kip Averitt, of Waco, and Chris Harris, of Arlington, voted against the bill.
A second measure, Senate Bill 1199, gives cities the legislative authority to operate red-light cameras. It prohibits contracts between cities and vendors that base compensation on the number of citations issued. And it requires cities to study intersections' traffic volume, collision history and frequency of red-light violations before installing cameras.
There were several attempts to gut Carona's bills. He said he expects the legislation to have an equally rough time in the House, where the Urban Affairs Committee has left several red-light camera bills pending until the Senate acted.
Rep. Jim Murphy, R-Houston, is sponsoring a bill that combines the two by Carona. Rep. Carl Isett, R-Lubbock, a longtime opponent of red-light cameras, filed a bill again to prohibit them altogether.
Twenty-one Texas cities have installed or made plans to install red-light cameras since the Legislature approved an amendment to a transportation bill in 2003, allowing cities to use cameras to issue civil citations for red-light violations. Isett said the amendment was contrary to the will of the House.
"Now we find ourselves in the position of having to reel them back in versus saying no to the onslaught," he said. "I would rather have a policeman on the street than a camera at an intersection."
Court challenge Michael Kubosh, a Houston bail bondsman who intentionally ran a camera-monitored red-light to gain legal standing to sue the city, called the cameras "a money-grab scheme" during previous committee testimony.
"It's a big scare tactic. It's a poor way to change driving behavior," Kubosh said. But Frisco Police Chief Todd Renshaw testified that fines help send the message that running red-lights results in punishment.
"If you write them a nasty-gram, it's not going to have much effect," he said. Houston began issuing $75 red-light camera citations in September. Cameras now monitor 40 intersections, and will add 10 more by summer.
kristen.mack@chron.com
Editor's Note: Balcones Heights has one red-light camera installed at Hillcrest & Babcock Road, and three on Fredericksburg Road at Hillcrest, Balcones Heights Boulevard & Crossroads Boulevard.
Houston Chronicle
Austin — Houston and other cities that enforce red lights with cameras would get legislative authority to do so but would be forced to share resulting revenue, under separate bills that passed the Senate Tuesday.
Incorporating into state law permission to issue civil citations to red-light violators caught on camera would end the debate about whether cities have that right.
The provision requiring cities to spend some of the resulting revenue on trauma care and traffic safety is intended to discourage use of the cameras as a municipal revenue windfall.
"We ought to ensure cities don't use them as money-makers. We are taking some of the financial incentive away," said Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, who chairs the Transportation & Homeland Security Committee and sponsored the legislation.
"Most cities were not eager to share their money. But when faced with the reality that some members wanted to outlaw them altogether, they realized this was the best option on the table." Senate Bill 125 limits the amount of money cities can keep to the cost of maintaining and operating red-light cameras.
The rest must be split evenly between traffic safety and a regional trauma account, so money stays in the area where it is collected. Notes accompanying the bill did not estimate how much money might be involved.
'Up to the cities' Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, said the bill raises issues of local control. "It is up to those cities to decide what is in the best interest of its citizens," said Seliger, who along with fellow Republicans Kip Averitt, of Waco, and Chris Harris, of Arlington, voted against the bill.
A second measure, Senate Bill 1199, gives cities the legislative authority to operate red-light cameras. It prohibits contracts between cities and vendors that base compensation on the number of citations issued. And it requires cities to study intersections' traffic volume, collision history and frequency of red-light violations before installing cameras.
There were several attempts to gut Carona's bills. He said he expects the legislation to have an equally rough time in the House, where the Urban Affairs Committee has left several red-light camera bills pending until the Senate acted.
Rep. Jim Murphy, R-Houston, is sponsoring a bill that combines the two by Carona. Rep. Carl Isett, R-Lubbock, a longtime opponent of red-light cameras, filed a bill again to prohibit them altogether.
Twenty-one Texas cities have installed or made plans to install red-light cameras since the Legislature approved an amendment to a transportation bill in 2003, allowing cities to use cameras to issue civil citations for red-light violations. Isett said the amendment was contrary to the will of the House.
"Now we find ourselves in the position of having to reel them back in versus saying no to the onslaught," he said. "I would rather have a policeman on the street than a camera at an intersection."
Court challenge Michael Kubosh, a Houston bail bondsman who intentionally ran a camera-monitored red-light to gain legal standing to sue the city, called the cameras "a money-grab scheme" during previous committee testimony.
"It's a big scare tactic. It's a poor way to change driving behavior," Kubosh said. But Frisco Police Chief Todd Renshaw testified that fines help send the message that running red-lights results in punishment.
"If you write them a nasty-gram, it's not going to have much effect," he said. Houston began issuing $75 red-light camera citations in September. Cameras now monitor 40 intersections, and will add 10 more by summer.
kristen.mack@chron.com
Editor's Note: Balcones Heights has one red-light camera installed at Hillcrest & Babcock Road, and three on Fredericksburg Road at Hillcrest, Balcones Heights Boulevard & Crossroads Boulevard.
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