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Update: Iowa Traffic Camera Ban Does Not Get Senate Approval

Another attempt at banning traffic cameras in Iowa has been scuttled in the Senate.

Posted: $util.date("h:mm a MMM d, yyyy",$story.contentLiveDate,$timeZone)
Reporter: The Associated Press

Another attempt at banning traffic cameras in Iowa has been scuttled in the Senate.

A bill to ban the cameras has passed the House. The Senate on Tuesday declined to take it up.

The ban was added as an amendment to a so-called standing appropriations spending bill that includes a laundry list of funding items and policy matters.

Republican Sen. Brad Zaun, of Urbandale, says use of the cameras that ticket speeders and drivers who run red lights is out of control and they should be shut off. He says they're more about revenue and less about traffic safety.

Democrats challenged the amendment as being outside the subject matter of the spending bill, and Senate President Jack Kibbie ruled
it should not be included.

Posted April 5, 2012

An Iowa House-approved bill that would ban the use of automatic cameras to enforce traffic laws may be stalled in the Senate as the Iowa Legislature heads toward adjournment.

On Thursday, Senate President Jack Kibbie, D-Emmetsburg, assigned the bill to the Senate Transportation Committee.

Committee Chairman Sen. Tom Reilly, an Oskaloosa Democrat, who views the issue as a local decision, says the committee isn't scheduled to meet again this year. Kibbie says that likely means the bill's chances for seeing Senate action before the end of the 2012 session is "pretty slim."

Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, says the bill's fate rests at the committee level and it's unlikely to come up.