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Iowa lawmakers vote to regulate traffic cameras
After years of trying, lawmakers send bill to Reynolds to sign
Erin Murphy
Apr. 15, 2024 6:18 pm, Updated: Apr. 16, 2024 9:52 am
DES MOINES â Automated traffic enforcement cameras would not be banned in Iowa but they would be regulated and their use limited under legislation receiving final approval from lawmakers Monday.
The legislation, which requires local authorities to receive a permit from the state to place a traffic camera and stipulates how local governments would be required to spend revenue from tickets, needs only Gov. Kim Reynoldsâ signature to become law.
That a traffic camera bill is headed to Reynoldsâ desk is a significant development, where previous legislative attempts â mostly to ban the devices â over the course of multiple years have failed.
But momentum for addressing traffic cameras built during this yearâs session as more of the devices have cropped up across Iowa.
âThis has been a long time coming. I think five or six years weâve debated this,â Sen. Tony Bisignano, a Democrat from Des Moines, said Monday during debate in the Senate. âWe were in such a tie down of ban or no ban that this came to make sense. There is a need for automated traffic cameras, especially in the urban areas.â
As of January, the stateâs nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency â which provides statistical analysis for the Iowa Legislature â found 25 cities in Iowa with automated traffic enforcement cameras operating in the 2023 fiscal year. The agency was able to obtain data on traffic camera usage in 10 of those cities, including Cedar Rapids.
Cedar Rapids had 19 traffic cameras â including at four locations around the S-curve on Interstate 380 â operating in fiscal 2023, according to the agency. The city issued nearly 170,000 citations, and collected fines on 55 percent of those, producing $7.2 million in revenue, according to the analysis â far more than the other cities measured including Des Moines.
According to data from the city of Cedar Rapids, the per-month average of total crashes and crashes with an injury in the city have fallen since the traffic cameras were implemented there, in 2010.
Marion began operating automated traffic cameras at two locations in 2023, and University Heights said it was installing them at two locations this year.
Iowaâs 377 traffic deaths in 2023 were the stateâs most since 2016, and the stateâs 11.2 percent increase in vehicle-related deaths from 2022 to 2023 was the nationâs fourth-highest, according to a recent federal report.
How the law would work
Under the approved legislation, House File 2681:
Local governments would be required to obtain a permit from the Iowa Department of Transportation to place an automated traffic enforcement camera on any Iowa road. Existing cameras would be allowed to continue operation until Oct. 1, but local governments must obtain an Iowa DOT permit to continue them beyond that point.
When applying for a permit, the local authority would be required to provide supporting data, including traffic and crash figures that illustrate why a traffic camera is needed in that location.
Cameras could be used to cite only drivers who fail to yield or stop at a traffic signal-controlled intersection or railroad crossing, or who exceed the speed limit by more than 10 miles per hour. Local authorities would be required to review and approve a record of the alleged traffic violation captured by a traffic camera before a citation is issued. Cedar Rapids, among other cities, already meet the requirements.
Cities with a population of 20,000 or less would be prohibited from issuing fines from violations observed by mobile automated traffic enforcement cameras â equipment installed in a vehicle or trailer parked along a shoulder. Those cities could issue only warnings for violations observed by mobile devices.
Local governments would be required to spend post-installation and maintenance revenue from traffic camera citations on transportation infrastructure projects or police or fire department operations.
Of the 10 cities for which the Legislative Services Agency was able to acquire traffic camera usage data, six â including Cedar Rapids â send traffic camera ticket revenue to the cityâs general fund.
Cedar Rapids says revenue from its traffic cameras is directed to public safety, and was budgeted in fiscal 2023 to fund 33 officer positions, as well as for law enforcement programs and equipment, such as maintenance of police body cameras.
Waterloo sends its traffic camera ticket revenue to the general fund to be used for police equipment; Buffalo puts its toward public safety; Muscatine toward police personnel; and Des Moines to its public safety radio system and the Iowa Statewide Interoperable Communications System.
What lawmakers said about the bill
Those who have sought to ban automated traffic cameras say their use violates constitutional due process.
âThis bill was a good first step. However, it is still my belief the traffic enforcement cameras are unconstitutional and a money grab,â Sen. Brad Zaun, a Republican from Urbandale who has led the charge on traffic camera legislation in previous years â usually in an attempt to ban them â told The Gazette.
Zaun voted in favor of the bill, which passed the Senate on a near-unanimous, 46-1 vote. It previously passed the House, 85-12.
Mike Klimesh, a Republican from Spillville who was that townâs mayor for 22 years, said during Senate debate that he believes the legislation establishes âa very robust regulatory frameworkâ that requires local governments to justify the need for traffic cameras.
Reynoldsâ office did not respond to a request for comment on the legislation.
Hands-free requirement fails
This year, in an attempt to secure enough votes to pass his legislation, Zaun combined his proposed traffic camera ban with a proposal that drivers use only hands-free technology when operating a mobile device â a provision that is highly sought by law enforcement officials.
That combination upset some Iowans, including advocates for the hands-free requirement, who want to see it passed into law.
Law enforcement officials have asked lawmakers in recent years to pass legislation to ban hand-held use of mobile devices while driving in Iowa. Officers say the stateâs prohibition on texting while driving, enacted in 2017, is difficult to enforce because drivers can say they instead were making a call or using the deviceâs GPS, which still is allowed under Iowa law.
A proposed hands-free requirement, Senate File 547, overwhelmingly passed the Iowa Senate last year, but the House hit the brakes.
Despite data showing the dangers of phone use while driving, Rep. Brian Best, a Republican from Glidden who chairs the House Transportation Committee, said there are not enough votes among House Republicans to pass the bill in the GOP-controlled chamber.
âIâm disappointed. I wish we could have done something with it. But itâs just not going to happen this year,â Best said. âMaybe next year ⌠with retirements, maybe there will be some different ideologies that come in that might support it.
âBut I think thereâs just a group that kind of felt like there was an infringement on the rights of drivers to be picked up for just having a phone in your hand.â
Best, who is not running for re-election, said he believes pressure is mounting to eventually pass a hands-free requirement.
âI hope it doesnât take some type of huge tragedy to get everybody on board,â he said.
Tom Barton of The Gazette contributed to this report.
Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com