Iowa lawmakers try again to take on traffic cameras

DES MOINES — Iowa lawmakers are making one final effort to regulate traffic cameras in Iowa cities this legislative session.

A bill advanced out of a Senate subcommittee Monday that would require cities and counties to get approval from the Iowa Department of Transportation before placing traffic cameras. The bill, Senate File 489, closely matches a House bill that passed out of committee earlier this year but has not been passed by the chamber.

Lawmakers have floated several methods to regulate traffic enforcement cameras this year — and over the past several years — citing concerns about privacy and arguing some cities abuse the systems to drive revenue.

Cedar Rapids, in a program that began in 2010, operates automated traffic cameras at nine locations, including four that monitor speed going into and out of the “S-curve” on Interstate 380 north of downtown. Last week, the Marion City Council voted to open the door to installing red-light and speed cameras in the city, although just how many and where they’d be located is yet to be specified.

A 2018 Iowa Supreme Court decision found that the Department of Transportation could not regulate traffic cameras without changes to the law, and cities have broad freedom to use the systems and issue citations.

Under the bill, cities and counties would need to file a request for a permit that includes data on traffic patterns, collisions and other safety issues at the location they intend to set up a camera. They also would need to list alternative methods of enforcement they have attempted. The Iowa DOT would be the agency to grant the permits.

Cities would only be allowed to issue citations from the systems for failure to stop at an intersection with a traffic light or a railroad crossing, and exceeding the speed limit by over 10 mph — less than the 12 mph that triggers a ticket under Cedar Rapids’s program.

Republican Sen. Mike Klimesh of Spillville said the bill will be amended to direct some of the funds collected by fines under the camera installation to the Length of Service Awards Program, a fund that grants awards to volunteer firefighters, reserve officers and volunteer emergency medical service workers.

The Cedar Rapids cameras generated more than $5.3 million in revenue from traffic citations for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2022. The city has budgeted for nearly $6 million in revenue generated by the traffic cameras for the current fiscal year.

Part of the revenue is used for public safety purposes, including supporting the funding of 33 Cedar Rapids police officer positions and public safety programs. Money also has been used in the past to purchase police and fire equipment and support social justice programs, such as the Citizen Review Board and Urban Dreams.

The bill’s amendment would also allow cities to use traffic enforcement systems that are mobile — not just fixed — based on their size: larger cities would be able to use them and issue citations, while smaller cities would be able to place them along the road but could issue only warnings, not citations.

Lobbyists representing cities and police organizations have been skeptical of bills being advanced to regulate the cameras, saying they would limit a tool that is important for traffic safety and sometimes funds a significant portion of cities’ public safety budgets.

Larry Murphy, a lobbyist for both Cedar Rapids and the Iowa Police Chief Association, said he prefers this bill to an outright ban, but it would make the process more bureaucratic and difficult to quickly respond to traffic issues.

Rep. Cindy Winckler, a Democrat from Davenport, said the bill will limit local control and take away cities’ freedom to use technology to enforce the law and decrease collisions.

“We need to be understanding of the decisions that are made at a local level by individuals who are elected to make those decisions. … Sitting here trying to make decisions on behalf of the communities in regard to the choices that they make in technology and public safety is really unfair,” she said.

But Klimesh said there already are plenty of actions local governments need to obtain permits for, and cities could still put traffic enforcement cameras in high-crash areas.

Klimesh said he has had conversations with Rep. Phil Thompson of Boone, the House Public Safety Committee chair, about closing the gap on the two chambers’ bills before the end of the legislative session.

“I feel it has a pretty good chance of getting done this year,” Klimesh said. “If not this year, we have one more year of the General Assembly. This will be a live round next year, and we’ll take it back up again and try to finish it off next year.”