Senate bill would decrease revenue from traffic violations

During the a Jobs, Economic Development and Local Government Committee hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Eric Schmitt of Glendale said many municipalities around the state practice abusive ticket schemes — pulling drivers over because of minor infractions and slapping them with hefty fines, especially if they fail show up for court. “Government serves to serve our citizens and not to find new and innovative ways to fund government by speed traps and traffic tickets schemes,” said Schmitt.

Schmitt said decreasing how much operating revenue municipalities can take from traffic fines and court costs could be the answer to curb the practice. The current law states a municipality can use traffic fine money for up to 30 percent of its operating revenue. Schmitt is sponsoring Senate Bill 5, which would drop that percentage to 10 percent. “We have too many municipalities that are too reliant on traffic tickets and fines to fund their government. It has led to injustices in our municipal court system,” said Schmitt.

Mayors from multiple municipalities showed up to the hearing in opposition, saying it’s not a scheme and that drivers must follow the law. They said if the percentage their municipality garners from traffic fines drops, they’ll have trouble recovering those funds. “When you blow through a stop sign or a red light or you’re going at least 11 miles over the speed limit, yeah, we’re going to hold you accountable for that — and I guess it would be extremely difficult if the percent goes down from 30 percent to 10 percent, senator, and what are we to tell a police officer, “hey, that next guy going 20 miles over — you got to let him go, we might be over 10 percent,” said Monica Huddleston, mayor of Greendale.

The Senate said SB 5 is a priority, but a vote on it has not been scheduled yet.