Relating to automated or remote systems for traffic law enforcement, including by limiting municipalities from placing or using such systems on certain roads and limiting certain penalties

Description

House File 628 prohibits a municipal board or body from placing, maintaining, or employing the use of any automated or remote system for traffic law enforcement (ATE system) on or adjacent to a primary road or secondary road. The Bill also provides that the civil penalty for a violation detected by an ATE system must not exceed 5.0% of the applicable scheduled fine or civil penalty for the violation under State law.

“Automated or remote system for traffic law enforcement” is defined in the Bill as a camera or other optical device designed to work in conjunction with an official traffic control signal or speed measuring device to identify motor vehicles operating in violation of traffic laws, the use of which results in the issuance of citations sent through the mail or by electronic means.

Background

Primary roads are roads and streets both inside and outside the boundaries of municipalities that are under the jurisdiction of the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT). Secondary roads are roads under county jurisdiction.

Iowa Code section 805.8A includes motor vehicle and transportation scheduled violation amounts. Table 1 includes the scheduled fine amount for speeding violations. Table 1 — Speed Violation Scheduled Fines Under Iowa Code Section 805.8A(5) For vehicles that fail to respond to a steady or flashing red signal or yellow caution signal under Iowa Code section 321.257(2), the scheduled fine amount is $135.

As of March 2022, the Legislative Services Agency (LSA) is aware of 19 cities and towns in Iowa that operate an ATE system or systems, including Sioux City, Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Muscatine, Fort Dodge, Council Bluffs, Des Moines, Waterloo, Fayette, West Union, LeClaire, Strawberry Point, Hudson, Chester, Buffalo, Bellevue, Miles, Independence, and Oelwein. Data is not available at this time regarding the use of ATE systems in additional cities or towns. As of March 10, 2023, the LSA obtained data from Cedar Rapids, Council Bluffs, Davenport, Des Moines, LeClaire, Muscatine, and Sioux City regarding their current ATE systems. Oelwein and Hudson recently implemented ATE systems and do not have a full year of data.Speed Over Limit Scheduled Fine 1-5 mph $30 6-10 mph $55 11-15 mph $105 16-20 mph $120 21+ mph $135 + $5 for each mile in excess of 20 mph over Of the seven local authorities from which the LSA has collected data, all seven currently operate ATE systems on primary roads. Table 2 includes the local authority and how many ATE systems it has on primary roads. The number of ATE systems on secondary roads is unknown at this time.

Table 2 — Local ATE Systems on Primary Roads Table 3 provides data obtained by the LSA on the number of ATE devices, base cost per violation, vendors’ share of revenues, and local authorities’ share of revenues for the last full fiscal year.

Table 3 — FY 2022 Estimated Violations and Revenues from ATE Devices

Assumptions

• Local authorities will remove all ATE systems currently on a primary road system.
• Some local authorities will decrease fine amounts for remaining ATE systems if the fine amount currently exceeds the applicable schedule fine or civil penalty for the violation under State law. However, the fiscal impact of the decrease is unknown and cannot be estimated at this time.
• Most ATE systems are capturing speed violations or red-light violations.
• The local authority revenue collected annually by ATEs on primary roads is in proportion to the number of ATEs on primary roads that a local authority has as a percentage of the total number of operating ATEs.
• Mobile ATEs will continue to be utilized outside of primary roads.Local Authority Number of Stationary

ATEs on Primary Roads

Mobile ATEs Utilized on

Primary Roads

Cedar Rapids 14 No Council Bluffs 2 No Davenport 11 Yes Des Moines 4 No LeClaire 4 Yes Muscatine 2 No Sioux City 2 YesLocal Number of Total Number of Number of Number of Base Fine Vendor Local Authority Authority Mobile ATEs Operating ATEs Violations Issued Violations Collected Per Violation* Revenue Revenue Cedar Rapids 2 19 187,575 108,557 75$ 2,439,845$ 8,307,136$ Council Bluffs 0 15 17,059 10,083 100 381,482 712,696 Davenport 4 18 43,327 21,357 65 647,671 1,720,046 Des Moines 2 11 116,918 76,960 65 1,735,109 3,267,303 LeClaire 1 5 79,922 69,341 50 2,323,790 2,428,840 Muscatine 1 9 12,177 ** 7,590 75 208,224 474,695 Sioux City 2 9 9,775 4,038 100 264,240 169,376 * Lowest violation amount. Actual violation amounts may increase depending on miles over the legal speed limit. ** Figures provided for Calendar Year 2022.

Source: Local authorities

Fiscal Impact

House File 628 is estimated to decrease revenue to local authorities. The full fiscal impact of the Bill cannot be estimated. However, Table 4 includes estimates for the seven cities that provided data to the LSA. Table 5 shows each city’s use of ATE system revenue. Table 4 — Estimated Annual Loss in Revenue to Local Authorities as Compared to FY 2022 Table 5 — Local Uses of ATE System Revenue

Sources

• Department of Transportation
• Local authorities
• LSA analysis and calculations