Red-Light Camera Ban, Gas Tax Appearing Less Likely: An Update on Potential New Laws as Second Funnel Week Approaches
Two controversial transit related bills are among those that have lost some momentum in recent weeks.
By Lynn Campbell IowaPolitics.com DES MOINES — Prospects of bills that would ban red-light cameras and increase Iowa's gas tax are dimming as state lawmakers work to pare down their workload in the final month of session. Next week is the Iowa Legislature's second "funnel" deadline, when bills must clear one chamber and a committee of the opposite chamber to remain alive. The 2012 legislative session is scheduled to end April 17. Iowa House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, said Thursday that a bill that would ban red-light and speed cameras in Iowa as of July 1, does not have the 51 votes to pass the Iowa House. Seven Iowa cities use the cameras to issue traffic tickets of up to $200 for speeding or running red lights. "My …
Jim
3:10 pm on Friday, March 9, 2012
Red light cameras can't stop the guys who cause the accidents, the real late runners. (If cameras worked, camera sellers wouldn't have the crash videos they supply to the media.) The dangerous real late runs (multiple seconds into the red) can't be stopped by the mere presence of a camera because the runner won't know (a tourist) or won't remember (a distracted or impaired "local") that there's a… more ›