Traffic camera ban may resurface in Iowa House

DES MOINES — A ban on traffic enforcement cameras that was rejected by the Iowa Senate may get a second chance at life in the Iowa House.

At least two dozen representatives have signed onto a plan to ban speed and red-light cameras when the bill comes to the House floor.

'It's an overreach by government,' Local Government Chairman Jake Highfill, R-Johnston, said Monday about the traffic enforcement devices. 'We don't always want to be talking about slippery slopes, but you could apply that to cameras.'

Senate File 220, which was approved by the Senate 31-18, originally called for an outright ban. But senators amended it on the floor to regulate their use instead. It would subject fixed and mobile camera deployments to state approval in high-crash, high-risk highway locations and direct profits to infrastructure improvements and public safety efforts within the jurisdictions operating cameras that issue revenue-generating tickets.

If they need revenue, they should take it to the voters and convince them.

- Rep. Jake Highfill, R-Johnston

The House Transportation Committee approved SF 220 to regulate the cameras on a party-line vote last week, with Democrats opposing the bill on principle, according to Rep. John Forbes, D-Des Moines. Some Democrats might support an outright ban, he said Monday.

Highfill, who said he believes he has enough votes to pass the amendment, called his opposition to traffic cameras part of a larger philosophical argument that would include opposition to civil asset forfeiture.

The use of speed and red-light cameras isn't for safety reasons but is a revenue generator for cities, said Highfill, whose district is half of the Senate district represented by Sen. Brad Zaun, the Urbandale Republican who sponsored the ban in the Senate.

'If they need revenue, they should take it to the voters and convince them,' Highfill said.

If cities have safety concerns, they should work with the Iowa Department of Transportation and law enforcement to find solutions, he said.

Cedar Rapids has the most prolific automated traffic enforcement program in the state, generating more than $3 million a year in fine revenue for the city.

It is among the cities suing the Iowa DOT over that agency's directive to alter the program. A judge could rule in the case within a month, but the court is not considering an outright ban.

The House did approve a traffic camera ban 58-42 in April 2012. Forty-eight members of the 2012 House are still serving. Twenty-two of them voted for the ban and 26 voted against it.

l Comments: (319) 398-8375; james.lynch@thegazette.com