From Nashville Public
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Red Light Camera Regulation Dies
Thursday, June 10th, 2010, by Joe White
On its last day, the state legislature buried a bill that would have regulated unmanned cameras that issue red light and speeding tickets in many counties.
State Senator Bill Ketron killed any chance of regulating the traffic cameras when he sent a bill back to committee. His home town of Murfreesboro happens to use such cameras.
The House has championed regulation after studying red light cameras for two years. Last month, House Republican Leader Jason Mumpower complained that cities are convinced to put up systems by far-off firms.
“It’s a company that’s based in Phoenix, Arizona, that’s partially owned by an Australian company, that handles the processing of tickets in Bluff City, Tennessee, a town of about 1,000 people in East Tennessee.”
Mumpower says Bluff City gets a $250,000 a month for speeding tickets issued on a straight, undeveloped road with a sharply lower speed limit in the middle.
The bill, which is now dead, would have kept cities from agreeing to install systems that allowed the company to make more money if it issued more tickets.