Session Daily - produced by nonpartisan Public Information Services

Crime


Photo-cop may be back

published 3/7/2008


Cameras taking pictures of motorists going through red lights in Minneapolis may be turned back on.

HF3863, sponsored by Rep. Paul Thissen (DFL-Mpls), would authorize local units of government to operate traffic light cameras. Drivers caught would be mailed a ticket, but the ticket could not serve as grounds for a license suspension, and would not appear on the driver’s record.

Approved by the House Public Safety and Civil Justice Committee, the bill’s next stop is the House Local Government and Metropolitan Affairs Committee. It has no Senate companion.

A similar bill, HF1058, also sponsored by Thissen, failed to get committee approval last year. Its companion bill, SF1071, sponsored by Sen. Linda Higgins (DFL-Mpls), awaits action by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

- Mike Cook