Last week, the Iowa House Transportation Committee passed House File 2048 (HF 2048) on a 15-6 vote, clearing it for debate on the House floor (as HF 2214).
The bill would bar cities and the state from installing automated traffic camera systems that record speeders and red-light runners and then issue tickets automatically by mail. It also requires the removal of such systems from the eight cities where they are already in place.
You can click here to download the draft legislation.
Sponsor Walt Rogers, R-Cedar Falls, said the camera systems represent a creeping infringement on personal liberty, and raise questions concerning drivers’ rights to due process.
These Iowa GOP House reps are on the fence regarding a vote to Ban Traffic Cameras this week. Call or email them today. These cameras are an infringement of our privacy and personal liberty. Perhaps our elected officials should live under 24 hour video surveillance, and then we’d see how much they like it.
https://www.legis.iowa.gov/Legislators/house.aspx
Capitol phone: 515.281.3221
HD35 Kraig Paulsen
E-mail: Kraig.Paulsen@legis.state.ia.us
HD54 Ron Jorgensen
E-mail: Ron.Jorgensen@legis.state.ia.us
HD60 Peter Cownie
E-mail: Peter.Cownie@legis.state.ia.us
HD98 Greg Forristall
E-mail: Greg.Forristall@legis.state.ia.us
HD99 Mary Ann Hanusa
E-mail: MaryAnn.Hanusa@legis.state.ia.us
When people say that we shouldn’t be passing laws to protect lawbreakers, they fail to recognize that it’s not just the lawbreakers being targeted—EVERYONE is under surveillance. Others argue that people have no right to privacy while on public highways, paid for with your tax dollars. They forget that even law enforcement officers must get permission to search your privately owned vehicle when pulled over to the side of the road on a public highway.
These arguments are all smoke and mirrors; it’s all about the money. Tell your representative to get off the fence and rid our state of these cameras.
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