Traffic cam bill The state House Democratic majority used a parliamentary maneuver last night to head off discussion of a recalled Senate bill that would repeal the controversial traffic camera program.
is tabled in House
The move cuts off discussion of
a repeal of the controversial
enforcement programBy Pat Omandam
pomandam@starbulletin.comThe House Republican minority criticized the move, saying the public should know where legislators stand on the issue.
"From our perspective, the Democrats were frightened to vote on the traffic cameras," said House Minority Floor Leader Charles Djou (R, Kaneohe). "The public has quite clearly stated they don't want the traffic cameras. They want it voted down. We could have voted it down tonight, and they were frightened to do so."
By a 30-15 vote, the House yesterday agreed to table discussion on Senate Bill 2077, Senate Draft 1 , which calls for a repeal of the traffic camera program. By using this parliamentary procedure known as "laying on the table," the House majority essentially made the bill dormant and cut off any debate on it for now.
The measure, however, remains alive and could resurface with a two-thirds vote of the House.
House Speaker Calvin Say (D, Palolo) explained after last night's session that the House majority did not want a debate on Senate Bill 2077 because the issue was already headed to conference committee later this month after the House and Senate could not agree what to do with the program.
The House wants major changes to the program, while the Senate wants an outright repeal of it.
House Republicans recalled the Senate bill on Monday after it stalled in the House Judiciary and Transportation committees. The Senate has already amended a House bill to repeal the program.
"The question that the caucus was posing was why was there need for further debate on this issue when the House took a position of trying to fix the traffic camera issue," Say said.
Say added Democrats did not intend to be mean-spirited to Republicans by cutting off debate last night. Instead, they wanted to focus attention on the House-Senate conference committee, where Transportation Chairmen Sen. Cal Kawamoto (D, Waipahu) and Rep. Joe Souki (D, Wailuku) must find common ground or nothing will be done to the program this year.
The state Department of Transportation began the three-year pilot program in January. The project uses camera vans to ticket motorists caught speeding on state roads.
But public outrage to the program prompted legislators this session to consider repealing or revamping the program, which is losing money because of the number of people who have contested the tickets in court and had their citations dismissed.
Also, the American Civil Liberties Union has recently filed a lawsuit against the state because the project allows a private company access to driver's Social Security numbers.
House Transportation Vice Chairman Willie Espero (D, Ewa Beach) said yesterday it would be premature to go along with the Senate's repeal of the program while the House continues to work for a compromise solution.
For example, Espero has been working on a conference draft to Senate Bill 2077 that would repeal the project but set up another one that would be operated by county police.
Espero said county police will be allowed to operate the camera vans for 12 days out of every month, giving them the ability to decide what days to deploy the camera vans.
Gov. Ben Cayetano said this week he would not veto a bill that repeals the traffic camera program. But he hopes that legislators will keep it with some changes because it does help increase public safety by lowering speeding on state roads.
"Frankly, if they want to repeal it, be my guest," Cayetano said.
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